Welcome to your new life
by PrideM
Summary: Waking up in a new house, the guardians find themselves transformed into human teenagers. They don't know how or why they ended up like this, but now they have to live like average teenagers passing from school to all the wonders of being young until they can find a way to go back to their former selves. AU! No pairing!
1. Strange bodies to us

Rays of lights were perking their way to me. I could feel the warm sensation on my face as I was stirring from my sleep. For how long was I asleep? I don't even remember what happened before that. All I knew for the moment was that it felt chillier than usual, and that what I was lying on was soft and bouncy. My hand flew to my face, trying to hide it from the early morning light. Wait...My hand? I suddenly opened my green eyes to discover the biggest shock of my life: No more fur. It looked like I was in some kind of human body. This was impossible! I quickly passed my hands through my "new" hair the only thing that I was relieved of (there was still some kind of fur on me), but I could find a hint of my ears on the top of my head. My breathing started to go faster, not understanding what had happened to me, and that I didn't know where I was. The room I was in looked like some kind of average teenage boy's room, but a bit too clean for it to be. The room was dark, with rays of light coming through the blinds of a small window at the top of the wall, like if I was in some kind of basement. What I could distinguish, the walls were some kind of greyish-blue colour, and the room was kind o small in an odd angle (a bit like a shrimp angle. There was a locker not too far from the door; sitting in front of it was a drawer with a desk and chair right next to it. As for me, I was on a low bed at the far corner of the room right under the window, messy green sheets all over it with a dark grey-blue blanket covering all.

This was crazy! I wasn't in my warrant anymore and in certainly not the right body. I was at least pleased to see that I had pants on (looking like joggings to me). But having pants wouldn't solve anything? Was it the doing of Pitch? If I put my hands on this guy, I swear he will not forget this encounter! But then it hit me: Were the others all right? What if something happened to them! What happened to me? Was I dead or something?

"Calm down Aster", I told myself, "it's probably just a bad dream. Yeah. Somet'in with the dream sand must have gone wron-"

At that moment, a scream of terror was heard in the, I suppose, house. It sounded like a girl. My instincts took over my thoughts as I jumped out of my bed running to the door to open it. All I could see pass that was a dark room with stair at the other side lighted by the sunlight I guessed. No time to analyse the surrounding, I ran to the stair climbing them two by two, hearing some footsteps running down. Arriving at the ground floor of the house, another figure was running down another set of stair, which had for effect that we both run into each other's, sending the other delicate figure to the ground. Rebalancing myself from the impact, I looked over the slim shadow I ran into. She looked like some kind of indian girl with her tanned skin; she had long curly brown hair to her shoulder with some green and purple locks a bit all over her head. When she raised her head, she looked at me with terrified purple eyes, almost backing up from me before being stop by the wall. She looked kind of familiar, but I couldn't quite replace where I've seen this girl before. I had to show her I wasn't a threat, maybe she knew what happened to me. I slowly approached her, giving her my hand to help her get up.

"Are ya alright sheila?"

As soon as I spoke, it seemed to have ringed a bell in her head as she tilt it frowning her eyebrows.

"Bunny?!"

And I understood perfectly why she made that face as my brain proceeded the information as well. No wonder this girl was familiar.

"Tooth?! What happened to ya?!"

Where was all of her feathers, and her wings?! She seemed to be in the same situation than I was. Now I knew why she screamed, although she wasn't that bad in her human form, quite pretty actually- What was I thinking! It wasn't the time for those thoughts! It was a serious mystery that we had to elucidate as fast as we could…especially if the tooth fairy wasn't around anymore, what would happen to Tooth? Her believers, if they stopped believing in her because of this unknown problem, she was screwed. The voice of Tooth suddenly brought me out of my delirium:

"I could return the question. Have you seen yourself lately?"

"Not really. All I know is that like you, I'm stuck in a human body for who knows why."

Her face meant all of her feelings. Her expression became blank, like she was hoping that I could provide her with some answer that I didn't know. Unfortunately, I was in the same boat as her. She finally took my hand to help herself get back on her feet. I never noticed how short she was until now. Since I must have kept my 6'1", I think she was about 5'2", but I never took note of it since she was always usually flying. Now that she was grounded, it almost seemed to me alien the fact that she had to stand on her feet. She dust off her pajama pants, once again with me thanking man in moon for her to have one and no just be…naked. It would have been a bit awkward, on the verge of feeling like Adam and Eve. And again with Tooth bringing me back on earth from my dirty thoughts:

"I presume you woke up like me: with no memories of how or when this problem might have happened."

"Ya got that right", I answered passing my right hand through my hair.

"Ooooh that's just great! Now how will I be able to collect the teeth? I can't even get in touch with my fairies! What will they do without me…"

And there she went, babbling over and over as fast as she could. I don't think I understood half of what she said. Getting stress was definitely not good for her. I had to calm her down before she begins to hyperventilate. I put my hands on her thin shoulders to bring her back to reality out of her delirium.

"Calm…Down! Panicking will not solve the problem sheila."

That seemed to calm her down…a bit. Slowly she took deep breath, and I could feel her shaking under my hands. I had to summon my mastering of Taï-chi to keep my cool down and not freak out like she just did. There had to be an answer to our problem. We had to make the other guardians know about our situation.

"Ah' know this is hard, but we must not panic. Everything is gonna be fine."

"You're right. But we don't know how we ended up like this! How are we going to be fine Bunny? Can you not see that we are both human!"

"Yes ah' got that part! The fact that we are at least alive is good", I reassured her as I straighten and let her go. "Now, we must find a way to warn the others."

"Don't bother with that kangaroo", a sleepy but familiar voice said from the stairs, "it's already done."

Both Tooth and I turned our head in the direction where the voice came from. Her eyes widened in shock but at the same time getting a hint of joy in them as she looked at the figure sitting at the top of the stairs. Me, I just sighed, feeling a headache coming, pressing my hand to my forehead.

"Oh crikey!"

It seemed that even the winter spirit hasn't been spared from this unfortunate event.

* * *

**Right! So this is my first fanfict (English fanfict to be more precise). I tried to correct my typo mistakes as much as I could, but since I'm not really a writer, well…you get fanwork XD**

**Anyway, thank you for reading if you made it this far. Leave a comment if you appreciated, it would at least tell me that I'm on the right path. I'll try to write the next chapter as soon as possible (and I know I'm gonna get hit, because I should be reading "Guardians of Childhood vol.2" XD).**


	2. All of us here, even him

To wake up in a strange binnacle was one thing, but to know that you weren't the only one in this predicament was far worse. And there I though that only Tooth and I were struck by this curse, he had to show up and ruin the hope I had, like always. Just…great. At least it wasn't as frightening as Tooth and I. He was almost human looking when he was a guardian; now the only thing differing was his tan and hair. For once, he looked healthy, well for us he was. His usual skin tone was a bluish white, now he was pale for sure but with some hints of colours on his cheeks. He still had his messy locks, except that now they were a brown chocolate, which was a bit "minfuck" seeing that he still had his stricking blue eyes. And there he was, sitting at the top of the stairs looking at us, in his usual brown pants and blue hoodie less the frost. Something inside me just started to boiled up. I don't know why, maybe it was my eternal rivalry with this winter mischief, but there was something off about his calm that I couldn't stand. Of course, I didn't restrain myself from telling him so…maybe accusing would be a better choice of words.

"What's the meaning of this Frost?! If this is one of your pranks, it is NOT funny!"

He looked at me, raising an eyebrow, then followed by his famous smirk leaning back on his hands on the floor.

"Seriously kangaroo", he started, "wasn't it you who said that all I could do was freeze water ponds and mess with your egg hunts?"

"Stop messing with me Frostbite! You seem a bit too calm about this matter."

"Bunny", Tooth butted in, "Jack doesn't have that much power. He's a winter spirit, not a god."

She was right. I was angry by what was happening that I didn't stop myself one second to think that, in fact, Jack had not the magic to perform this kind of prank. I was mad and he just happened to be there. It was perfectly normal to waste all my anger on him, that's what I usually do with this guy.

"Hear the voice of wisdom Bunny", he laughed at me getting up and slowly climbing down the stairs, "I'm in the same boat as you. I don't know why or how I got there, and it would certainly not help if I panic like you guys."

"Easy for you to say", I retort, "you're not the one that pass from being a giant rabbit to a flesh human."

"I would say more of a marsupial than a rodent", he smirked walking right in front of me.

"Keep on joking like that and your pretty fresh fallen snow teeth will get in Tooth's hands really fast", I reply raising my fist.

"Boys! Enough", the feminine voice of reason interrupted.

Turning both our heads toward the source, she looked at us as if she was scolding one of her fairies. It was mother behaviour time; it was like an instinct to her when things started to become heavy like this. But she was right, we shouldn't get our feelings involve in this serious matter. It was logical that Jack woke up just like us, only he must have had less of a heart attack than we did. I sigh pinching my nose bridge, completely discourage by the situation.

"Urg! This is so meddling."

"Just calm down Bunny! Think about it, if Jack is here in the same form as us, maybe North and Sandy got here too."

I took a good look at my surrounding. This house was a perfectly normal house for a family: a basement, where I came from and that I barely saw what was in it; a ground floor where we were at the moment, all lighted up with the morning light coming from the windows which looked fairly good furnished; and a second floor that I didn't have the time to take a look yet and where Jack and Tooth came from. From where I was standing I could see that behind the stairs was the kitchen with a wooden dinner table in the middle and sliding patio door right behind it. Next to us was the living room with two sofas and a tv in front of the wall. And behind me, right in front of the stairs, was the front door. If I stirred my neck a little I could see another door between the stairs and the kitchen; I assumed it was the bathroom. Now, we had to know what was upstairs and in the basement. I didn't pick up anything from my room and the staircase, but since it was dark, I'll have to check it out later. While I was thinking about our location, Jack continued the conversation.

"If they are, it's a wonder they didn't wake up to your screaming."

"I couldn't restrain myself when I saw the new me in the mirror of my room. I'm not used to having hair instead of feathers you know."

"Were there any other rooms upstairs", I asked them interrupting their discussion.

"Hum", Tooth thinking out loud, "I didn't really notice since I was a bit stressed by the situation."

"I think I saw at least two other rooms", Jack said doing the same as Tooth, "and another set of staircase at the end of the corridor."

"Well what are we waiting for", I asked them, "let's go check it out."

With that said, I shoved Jack out of my way, gently of course, even though he was pissing me off earlier. I climbed the stair two by two again, noticing an open room to my left (must have been the one that Tooth came from) and a corridor to my right. Like Jack said, there were two other closed rooms apart from the one he came from that was open, and a wooden staircase at the end, as if it was going in the attic. The two others following me behind, I slowly walked toward the door right in front of Jack's room. Putting my hand on the handle, there was an anxiety inside of me that was afraid to know what lied behind this door. I looked back at Tooth as if I was asking permission to open it, which I received from her a nod. I turned the knob and pushed the door wide open, only to discover that my worries where stupid thoughts. I had just discovered the second bathroom. I sighed in relief, at least there was nothing to get concerned about in this room.

"It's ok, there's no one in here."

"I can't say the same for myself."

Tooth and I turned to the right to see that Jack had opened the second door next to us. He was leaning on the doorframe looking inside and mimicking with his hand to come and check it out, what we did. When we perked our head to see inside, we saw a young man sleeping on a double size bed. We entered to see who was taking most of the space on the bed due to his muscular size. This guy was huge, large of shoulders and I swear he had to be taller than I was. He had a square face with short black hair matching his big fuzzy brows. At the end of his chin was a little black goatee continuing around the mouth to form a pinch. This guy was such in a deep slumber that he was almost drooling, and snoring. He was sleeping in a star shape, taking all the space he could, the cover on him all messed up, even his legs were coming out of the bed limits. He was sleeping far too well to my taste. Of course I knew this guy, but it's been so long since I saw him in this form that I had almost forgotten that he had this look before he became Santa Claus. We had to wake him up. Putting my hand on his shoulder, I shook him a bit to try (in vain) to wake him up. I shook harder only to have the total opposite of what I wanted: he simply turned around on his chest and covered his head with his pillow, mumbling incomprehensible words.

"I guess the easy way won't be an option", Jack said laughing at my attempt.

Tooth decided to make things work faster by jumping knees on his back and bouncing on him like a trampoline.

"Come on North! Get up!"

"не! I am tired, long night! Let me sleep!"

He knew something about last night?! I looked at Jack, and by the way he was looking at me, we had the same idea. We both grab an ankle each an try to pull North off his bed, but this giant had a weight matching his size. I wasn't helping either that he decided to grab the bedpost to stay in his little dreamland. With Tooth bouncing and screaming at him while the Russian was retorting in his sleepy native language, and Jack and I pulling with all of our strength to make him come out, it was a surprise that none of the neighbours came ringing at our door to tell us to calm down. After several minutes of loud arguing, I saw a new person enter the room. He was walking casually with a sleepy face plastered on and a glass of water in his left hand. It didn't take too long before Jack notice him too, still pulling at the leg but just hanging there, like frozen by the new character entering. This little blond guy was no taller than 4 feet at least and was all chubby. His hair all spiky had a hint of orange in the dark blond. I hadn't the time to analyse him before he came right next to the bed, pulling the pillow from North's grip and empty his glass of water on the Russian's head, which separated itself rapidly from the mattress. This stand up causing Tooth to fall on the bed and Jack and I to fall on our back on the ground. The little guy turn to us and start to angrily mimicking his frustration of, I guess, being waked up by screaming. Jack looked at me shrugging a bit at the silent scolding. North now fully wake up was doing the same with Tooth. None of us really knew what he was saying. It was hard when he had just pictures above his head to talk his thoughts, but now, in a human form, he was simply mute. I decided to speak up for the rest of us:

"Sorry, sorry Sandy. It's just that we had ta get 'im out of the bed, and since mister here wasn't helpin', it got a bit out of hands."

With that, he seemed to calm down a bit. But now at least, we were all together.

* * *

I looked at myself in the mirror. The first time in the day that I knew exactly how I looked like. My hands crisped the borders of the sink, not really believing what I had in front of me. I was a total stranger to myself. At least, I was still good looking. My face looked like that Australian Broadway dancer…think he's an actor too. Stars were never my strength anyway. My green eyes were still there with big dark eyebrows covering the top. My body was build up like those suffers of Bondi Beach in Sydney, the tan coming with the package deal. My famous body marks that usually dress my fur were now permanents tattoos on both upper arms, even the ones on my forehead were still there. The marks were a bit covered by some greyish black locks that were part of my hairstyle. My hair was a bit messy like my previous no-more-fur, long enough to be funky, but short enough to spike a bit in the air on their own. The hair at the back of my head was the same style as the fur on my cheeks was…except shorter. There were even sideburns that could someday be completed by a beard. I don't know if the day I would see one on my chin would come, and I seriously hoped that I wouldn't have to wait this long before going back in my old body. I just wanted for all of this being a really bad dream. I wanted to go back to the way I were, in my warrant, worrying over my ephemeral eggs. Urg crikey! What have I gotten myself into? If only I knew.

A sudden knock on the door brought me out of my depressing thoughts.

"Bunny", it was Jack's voice, "are you all right? You've been in the bathroom for hours."

"Y-yeah, Ah'm comin'."

I heard his footstep climbing the stairs. After our reunion in North's room, we all agreed to get dress up in what we could find in the rooms we woke up and meet up in the kitchen to try and solve our problem. I went in the basement to find some straight black jeans and a white t-shirt. Whoever was living here before us had really simple tastes in fashion. Before going back upstairs, I passed in front of a little bathroom. I had to see myself before the reunion. That led me to where I was now. I would have time for sulking later; I had to go back upstairs with the others. I let some water run down my hands and bring it to my face to refresh myself before drying it with a towel near the sink. Dropping it on the ground, I exit the restroom to go upstairs, but a noise coming from around me stopped my run just as I put my feet on the first stair. I looked around the dark basement to notice something new: A door not far from the staircase, in front of my room right at the other side. The sounds coming from behind it was like furniture falling on the ground or something like that, accompanied by mumbling and cursing. I slowly walked toward the source of the noise, putting my ear on the door to try to draw words from the mumbling, but everything seemed to have stop. Instead, there was a laboured breathing. Maybe the person behind that door was the owner of the house and knew what had happened to all of us. I quickly opened the door, discovering a messy room with furnitures turned upside down and clothes all over the place. My eyes rose up to a silhouette all dress in black pants and shirt. It was obviously a male seeing he had no curves, but he was thin and tall, taller than me maybe. His head bowed between his arms that were both extended, hands on the wall where between them was hanging a mirror with a huge crack on it, as if this person had just punch it. He seemed to have heard me as he raised his head to look at me through glass. Now his facial features were clear to me.

"What in the bloody hell are you doing here", I asked him almost raging.

When he turned his head to really face me, I could clearly see those amber eyes filled with question. How the heck Pitch, the Nightmare King, the one we defeated not so long ago, could be here in the same situation as us.

* * *

**YaY! So I've finally finished all the descriptions…finally. Now that you know how everyone looks like and that the intro is done, I will finally be able to begin the real stuff. Again I'm sorry for the typo mistakes. English is not my native language so I'm writing to get better ^^**

**Thanks a lot for the one review "_LibbyaLobster__"_, I was really happy that in less than a few hours after the post I had someone interested in my story. I'll try to keep up the fast work. Ciao~**


	3. The why and how

**_(3__rd__ person view)_**

"Start speaking! What did you do to us Pitch", the new Australian shouted at the previous lord of darkness.

After the shocking discovery made by Bunny, he dragged the Nightmare King from the basement to the kitchen where everyone had meet up already. This latter was now sitting in a kitchen wooden chair, getting himself yelled at for a problem he didn't even knew. But unfortunately for him, the Aussie wasn't one to be patient. Surely he would punch first and ask questions later if it wasn't of North trying to gently calm him down. If it has been an American tv show, this situation would be perfect for a "good cop bad cop" scene. His legs crossed as his arms were, Pitch was scanning his surrounding not paying any attention to the former rodent in front of him. Jack and Sandy were the only calm ones, it was kind of funny to see the past winter spirit so calm, like if this situation wasn't even affecting him. They were both sitting on the dinning wooden table next to where the Boogeyman was. Right in front of them, it seemed like a domestic scene: Bunny trying to know everything at the same time by shouting angrily at Pitch who wasn't listening; North that was trying to prevent the Australian from ripping Pitch's head off; and Tooth that was trying to get herself listened to, but speaking too fast like always, her yelling was lost between both loud male voices. The young Nightmare king passed his hand in his face, discouraged, as Sandy just put his hands on his ears, fearing that he might get deaf in addition to his mute condition. The only thing that interrupted this merry cacophony was a doorbell. All heads turned at the same time toward the source; at that point time seemed to freeze. The young guardian was the only one who looked at the others, trying to see if some one would go and answer the door.

"Oh no", the young father Christmas said.

"He could see us", the only girl continued.

"What do we do", the Aussie asked.

Both sand masters and snow sprite facepalmed. The other three didn't get the fact that they were humans now, so being seen was part of it.

"Why don't we just answer the door", Jack said completely discouraged.

"Are you crazy", Bunny told him, "didn't you hear what Tooth said, the person behind that door could see us!"

"I see that getting a human brain hasn't had any effect on you rabbit", Pitch commented.

Bunny boiled at this remark and was about to reply violently, but was cut short by the sound of an opening catastrophe for the three paranoids. Sandy, once again, had been the fastest to react to the problem. The little guy "answered" the door and met up with a mailman who seemed to have a lot of packages for this house.

"Good morning sir", greeted the mailman to Sandy, "I have a total of six packages and a letter for this house. I would need your name please."

"I will take it from here", answered Jack who flew to go meet with the helpless Sandy, "pardon him, he's a mute."

"Oh", said the mailman almost uneasy with the awkward situation, "it's okay. May I have yours then?"

"Jack Frost."

The mailman thanked Jack, noting on his pad to after ask this last one to sign at the bottom of the form. While the winter spirit was doing so, the mailman took the time to get all of his boxes inside the house. When it was done, Jack exchanged the pad for the sealed letter with the mailman who greeted the four others before leaving, Sandy closing the door behind him.

All of the other guardians joined the duo at the door, leaving Pitch behind who didn't seem to be interested by the strange boxes.

"What is it", asked Tooth intrigued.

"I don't know", answered Jack who was kneeling next to the packages, "but there is one for each of us…even for Pitch."

"Good to know that I'm part of the group now", retort Pitch sarcastically from the kitchen.

"We should read letter first to know who send this", proposed North.

Jack nodded as he opened the envelope to get out a handwritten letter. He started to read it out loud to the others:

"_Greetings dear guardians…and Pitch._

_You must be asking yourselves why is all of this happening to you; why are you in this house and in those bodies. I am afraid that all of this might be my fault. You see, shortly after you defeated the Nightmare King, I was able to rescue him from his Fearlings thinking that this punishment was maybe a bit too cruel. So, my Lunar Lamas and I tried to come up with a more suitable chastisement. After a lot of thinking, I finally came up with a solution: If I could transform a human into a spirit/guardian, maybe I could do the opposite. I tried to cast a moonbeam on Pitch to transform him into a human so he wouldn't be a threat for the children's dreams or to the guardians ever again. But I did not know he still had the power to fight back. The moonbeam shattered in pieces sending them away, but it seemed that one shard had made his way to Pitch anyway. I noticed, but too late, that the other shards were attracted to you guardians for an unknown reason. This had for effect of transforming you into young human. I couldn't leave you like this, helpless and alone in your respective environments. So with the help of my Lamas, I build you a new life right where you are at the moment. You will stay there until I found a way to bring you back to normal. _

_You will find in each of your packages a cell phone with all of your contacts so you will be able to reach each others. There is also a wallet with you identity cards (and money when needed). Since I don't want you to worry all the time about the actual problem, I took the liberty of registering you to the nearest public high school. So in your packages, you will find your manuals._

_Take this chance of trying a whole different life from the one you know so well. It might not get back a second time._

_Hope you will get along._

_Man in the Moon_

_PS: No Bunny, you can't delete Pitch from your contacts._

_PS2: Yes Pitch, you must stay with them._

_PS3: Sandy, you have a notebook in yours so you will be able to communicate with the others._

_PS4: Welcome to your new life~"_

Talk about naked truth. There was a long silence in the room seeing that everybody was assimilating the information they have just heard (and read). It was a shock, not to know that it was the work of Manny, but the fact that even him didn't know how to reverse the effect. It didn't take long before Jack tossed the paper away and pulled his box to himself, trying to open it. Bunny seemed a bit angry at Jack's behaviour:

"What are ya doin'?"

"Hum…I think this action is called 'open a present'", replyed the former winter spirit, "Pitch was right when he said that getting a human brain didn't change anything."

There was a little laugh at the end of the room coming from Pitch who was still sitting at the same chair. The Australian rolled his eyes, a little pissed of by the attitude of the youngest.

"I meant that you do not intend on doin' what Manny said, are ya?!"

"Why not? I may as well enjoy my stay here. Didn't you heard? We have a chance to live a normal life, and that's what I'm going to do. You may pity over your poor and unfortunate situation, but I'm gonna take this chance and live my new life to the fullest!"

Bunny took a step back at the reaction he just got. Jack seemed angry, very angry. They didn't know what Jack had gone through, they didn't know his short previous life. Knowing that, it would totally understandable that he wanted to take this new chance of living a longest life this time. After all, he was still a child at heart.

The mood was a bit awkward and Jack took the moment to continue opening his package. Nobody dared to move, until Pitch decided he had enough of being left in the punishment corner and walk to the living room to pick his own box. Raising his eyes to look at the other guardians, a smirk perking at the corner of his lips.

"It seems that only real guardians have enough guts to accept their fate", he said with a mocking tone.

That last sentence seemed to strike Bunny in his ego, because it wasn't long before he starts ripping the tape of his box. Slowly, all of the guardians were doing the same to discover their new treasures. Each of them had the same cell phone, but in different colours, each of them matching their personalities (Jack=Blue, Sandy=Yellow, North=Red, Tooth=Purple, Bunny=Green and Pitch=Black). Piles of new school manuals were tossed inside the packages and at the top were their wallets, with their identity cards. They were all curious of the human name they were given. Jack was happy to keep the same name; he got attached to this one over the 300 years of solitude, it was the only thing he was sure of. He tipped to his right to look at the new name of Sandy: _Sanderson ManSnoozie_. Jack couldn't restrain a laugh, which earned a weird look from Sandy. The guardian of dream took this opportunity to use his new way of communication by writing something in his notebook and showing it to his laughing friend.

_"You do know that it is my real name…right?"_

This had for effect to make Jack blush of embarrassment.

"I'll just call you Sandy", Jack replied and try to change subject by asking the others their new name.

"Mine didn't really change", answered North, "in fact it is my old name: Nicholas St. North."

"Me too I keep my ol' name", added Bunny.

"What?" retorted Jack, "it's a bit odd for a human to be called Bunny."

"Not this one ya drongo, that one: E. Aster Bunnymund."

"It seem I keep my current name as well", said Pitch.

Only Tooth stayed silent about her name. She was quite disappointed to not have kept her name like the others, but at least she had the one of her mother in from her past life. A gentle hand on her shoulder brought her back from her memories and she look at the the blue eyes of North.

"You all right Tooth?"

"Oh…yeah of course", she replied with a shy smile.

"So what's yours then", asked Jack.

"Ana Rashmi", she answered.

"Crikey! That's a big change for ya", retorted Aster.

"Well it is just for formal", explained Nick, "we can still call our Toothie how we like."

What Nick had just said put a real smile on Ana. At least she was with the one she loved. To take all of this all alone would have been so meddling, but it wasn't the case. They all sat there for a moment, commenting on the schoolbooks they had and what they would do at their new school. They were laughing and arguing…all except for Pitch who sat again in his corner, alone with his thoughts.

The former Nightmare King wasn't pleased by the situation at all. Being human wasn't his favourite punishment choice, hell he would have preferred staying with his Fearlings. With them at least he knew what would happen of him. Now he was stuck in this body of flesh with those lunatics. There were no guaranties that they would accept him, he knew that he would never accept them. Still…he noticed when Jack had been abrupt earlier when the guardian of hope argued with the fact he wanted to try this new life. Jack was the youngest of all of them and still a child at heart. After all, the Boogeyman was there when that unfortunate soul fell through the ice and freeze to death in the unforgivable cold water of winter. Sensing the fear in both the boy and his sister's heart, he saw the entire horrible scene. Pitch evaluated Jack's age around 14 or 15 years old; the age that they all had at the moment. So if there was one person who the lord of darkness had to rely on, it was Jack Frost. He had been a teenager for 315 years, so he knew all that has to be known about being a normal teen. Finally, this could turn out quite well for the Boogeyman. He could have a chance to make Jack tilt in his favour and he would finally have his prince of fear when he would get his powers back. But if he would refuse him again, then Pitch would have no other choice than get rid of him when the time would come. He would have to do it before they turn back to their spiritual forms. Killing a human was much easier, but not before Jack would have exhausted his usefulness.

* * *

**We are finally in a bit more action. I'm pleased with this chapter. I decided to use a 3rd person view this time to show everyone's thoughts and emotions regarding their situations…and it's looking pretty good 8D**

**From now on, Sandy will speak in writing and all he will say will be in _italic and underlined._**

**For those who don't know, the Lunar Lamas are the servants of Manny. You can learn all of that by reading the prequels of the movie: Guardians of Childhood.**

**For those who read it, DON'T SPOIL ME! I'm only at the second volume (the story with Bunnymund, so I don't know the one with Tooth or Sandy yet), almost done thought.**

**Anyway, it's late again, and I should go sleep. I have a big cosplay rush right now.**

**Thank you for reading~**


	4. Why not?

**Jack's P.O.V.**

I don't know how I could describe this feeling. Maybe it was satisfaction, or happiness. Was I cheerful, joyful or more febrile? I think it was all of those emotions. I couldn't express how happy I was of trying a human life once again. This time for sure, I would do better. It was a bit sad though that I didn't have my little sister, I could have been a better brother to her by staying alive. What was I thinking, depressing myself with those memories that weren't part of me anymore. What happened in the past belongs to the past, now I had something all new planned for the future. Plus, I wasn't alone for this journey; I was with the other guardians and I would be their guide in this crazy world. Sure they knew about humans, but before I came into their life, especially last Easter, they never interacted with children, they didn't know so much about them. Before, Tooth was always barricaded in her Tooth Palace; North was out only during one night and never met with any child since they were all asleep; and Bunny was out during one day of the year, hiding from them. So that only left the two sand masters that could easily work their way into this world without any real problems. I guess that from now on I would hang out most of the time with Sandy, especially if he is totally mute this time. Anyway, he's the only one I never really hated for not paying attention to me for 300 years. I guess that just seeing his sand was putting a smile on my face every night when he was casting his dreams in the world. I was forgetting how alone I was. When I dreamed, I was over the ice, in the warmth I didn't knew anymore, with people that noticed me for what I was. I considered him as my best friend, even when we didn't really knew each others. As for the other sand master…I didn't really know what to think of him at the moment. Sure he tried to kill me and destroy the guardians forever, but something inside me was yelling to give him another chance. Pity? No. More like an understanding of the situation he went through.

After the events of Easter, many days later, I caught myself thinking about his fate and why he did all of this. All Pitch ever wanted was to be believed in. Sure he did some bad stuff, but when I think about it, he had been in this situation much longer than I, and it scared me a bit to think that if the guardians never came to me, some years later I could have done the same. I could have been the one trying to destroy the guardian, having nothing more to lose than resulting in using the last and ultimate solution. I didn't want people to fear me, but maybe someday, madness would have overcome my spirit and I would have only been a puppet to my desires. After all, maybe Pitch didn't choose to be fear. Maybe he was the bad guy by default. Well, it was now or never to see if I could trust the former Nightmare King. He had a second chance to prove himself that he could live among us without being a threat.

* * *

"…_od morning everyone! It's 7 o'clock with a sunny sky on this wonderful day of April. The temperature is at 0__ºC and it might get cloudy in the afternoon. We continue our morning hit list with Mermaid from train…"_

It was a bit hard to get use to an alarm clock after three decades of doing whatever we wanted at any time. I find it weird to be this exhausted and just wanting to go back to sleep even if I had a good eight hours of sleeps in the body. Usually, I took a little nap in a tree and I was good for a week at least, but I wasn't a spirit anymore. My face still stamped on my pillow, I slide my arms in a sloppy way from under the cover to push myself against the mattress to attempts a stand up, which failed. After two other tries, I resigned myself into rolling out of the bed to crash down on the cold floor. With my great morning depth perception, my head encounter the bedside table, which had for effect to wake me and get dizzy at the same time. Note to myself: Find a better way to extract from the terrible temptation of staying in bed all day long. I got up slowly, deciding to let my clock play the radio's morning hit list. I opened my window blinds letting the morning sunlight invade my room. I don't know if I was a masochist for making myself blind in addition of a headache early in the morning, but at least it was working; I was now fully awake. Like the radio host said, it was a beautiful day indeed.

It has already been a week since we woke up in this house. The day following we were introduce to the world of high school where we could smell puberty broad-nosed and see hormones per square meter. It was really different from my old time (and I was now speaking like a real old timer). At least when we were at school, we could take a break from each other. Fortunately, our schedules weren't all the same. We were meeting in some classes, but we didn't have everything together. I knew I had art classes and gym with Aster, biology with Ana (Aka Tooth), geography with Nick, math and sciences with Sandy, and history and English classes with Pitch. It was a bit weird arriving in the middle almost end of the school years. All the gangs and friends were made and the reputations were anchored into the social life of the school. Nick and Ana didn't have much problem making friends. It surprised me a bit to see Ana being able to have some girl friends who could keep up with her, she was hyperkinetic that it was a wonder they were still alive; but it was good she could get her worries out of her head. Nick and Aster were so imposing that no one dared to get on their bad side, except Nick was friendlier than Aster. The former pooka was hanging more out with girls than boys since they were all "fangirlizing" over him. Last thing I knew, muscular artists were the type to please girls; good to know my chances were slim on getting a girlfriend. Most of the time I was hanging out with Sandy. I didn't have really the chance to get in touch with other people, or more I didn't want. I wasn't the type to go and get friendly with other people; I was more of a loner. But at least, I already had a reputation at school: the prankster. Hey! Being human didn't mean I stopped being Jack Frost. When I had the chance, I was doing jokes on teachers, which end most of the time in detention, but everyone was congratulating me afterward for making school so fun. There were only two teachers who weren't mad when I was pulling pranks in their classes: Miss Katherine, my geography teacher on whom I was sure at 90% Nick had a crush on; and Professor Nightlight who was my history teacher. Each time both of them were laughing with the class, telling me "you had me this time again". It made me love those classes and I was a bit less of cruel and letting them teach their material.

So on this beautiful day of April, I decided to get into my skinny torn blue jeans, dancing a bit on the beat of "_Give a little_" from Hanson that was playing at the radio. Pulling out a white long sleeves shirt from my drawer to put on followed by a blue short sleeve cored shirt that I decide to let open. I looked at myself in my bedroom mirror, passing my head a couple of time in my hair, but not changing much of my morning bed head; I liked that style. I got out of my room bare feet to get downstairs, jumping over the stair ramps to arrive in the living room. I continued my way toward the kitchen to get some breakfast, as I felt the same thing I felt every morning since we got here. I didn't know why, but Aster and Pitch were always getting up at the same time, always ending up in front of each other at the table to eat their breakfast. Each morning they would eat while glaring at each other, none of them placing a word. It was like if they could both curse the other only with the look, and probably killing their opponent twelve times in their mind in the most gruesome way. Their morning routine was…peculiar. That's what I had to endure being the third one to get in the kitchen, until our feminine touch got down from her room singing the scene from the movie "_Singing in the rain_".

"Gooood morning! Good morning! It's great to stay up late! Good morning! Good morning, to yoooooou."

Skipping to me to give me my usual morning hug, she then went to the refrigerator to get herself a grapefruit. Her singing voice echoing through the whole house, we could time five minute after she got down that Sandy was following, still half asleep. The loud voice of Ana was enough to wake the little man up that he didn't need to put on an alarm clock, even if he was sleeping in the attic. I sat on the counter, eating my bowl of cereal, not really wanting to set myself between the deadly glare at the table that wasn't even disturbed by the loud arrival of Ana. Sandy pushed half awake a chair to the counter where I was sitting to climb on it and get out a bowl and pour some cereal while yawning. My mouth full I passed him the milk, thanking me with his head, his eyes still almost shot he got down from his pedestal and sat at the place I didn't want to be, not caring about the awkward glare. Finally, Nick got down. He was always to last one to get up. Usually, it was at that time that Pitch finally breaks the staring contest between him and Aster to take his backpack and leave for school without a word. He never got to or back from school with us. Even there he was a loner, never approaching us or trying to make friend with others. I guess him and I weren't so different after all.

After everyone was done with taking their breakfast, everyone put their coat on, me keeping my not sensitivity to cold, only my usual blue hoodie was enough. But then I was meeting with my arch enemy: shoes. I-did-not like those things! It was a pain in the ass every time I had to put them. But since it was school regulation and that Ana would scold me every time we got out, I was putting my damn sneakers. It didn't mean that I was keeping them in classes though. At least she didn't reprimand me for not putting sock (those were number two on my black list). The school was at 10-15 minutes walk from our house, it gave us a great morning walk to fully wake up, especially for Sandy who was like a sleepwalker until we arrived at school. When we got to destination, we would split up: Ana and Nick were meeting up with their friends; Aster was kidnap by his girl friends, and some boy he met in sport though I was pretty sure he had a crush on the Australian (it was almost as if Aster was sending us some help signals). Sandy and I decided to go our separate ways since we didn't have the same course in first period. I wave him goodbye before going at my "lonely" place.

I was usually hanging out at the top staircase between the third and fourth floor, where no one was at this time. It was only 8 o'clock and classes weren't starting until 8:30. So I had peace and quiet for another twenty minutes before late scholars were coming running to their classes. I sat down on one of the stairs, getting my reading book out to continue where I left last night before going to sleep. I jumped when a familiar voice interrupted my reading:

"You know", said the voice before showing the owner coming out of his hiding place at the bottom of the stairs, "you're much more of a loner than I thought you would be."

"And what made you came to this conclusion", I asked the shadow man who was looking at me with his amber eyes.

"Well", he continue crossing his hands behind his back, "every morning, evening and night, you spend your time with those weirdoes when you actually just want to be alone. Is it that you're not so fond of them?"

I sighed rolling my eyes. Knowing that I wouldn't be continuing my reading, I put away my book in my backpack. Pitch smirked, satisfied that I understood that he wanted to talk. When I looked at him, he was pretty much looking the same as when he was the Boogeyman: He wore straight black pants, matching his black long sleeve V neck shirt and wearing black shoes. I think people were calling this fashion emo, but I don't think Pitch was gothic enough to be one. So does that classify him in the elegant emo? Those questions were put aside as the ancient lord of darkness continued to speak.

"Or maybe you finally noticed that they used you. You know, it's never too late to join my side."

"Look Pitch", I answered rubbing my forehead with my fingers, "I know you're still mad about the fact that I pushed you aside for the guardians, but can't we just start at new?"

He looked at me, not really understanding what I just said.

"We both know that either we like it or not we are much alike", I explained, "Even if I want to, I am not fit for making friend, neither do you as I can see from the past week."

"Get to the point Frost", he said crossing his arms on his chest and frowning.

"What I mean is that we could take this opportunity to get to know each other."

"In other words", he said unsure, "you want us to become friends…is that it?"

"Kind of", I reply smiling shyly at him rubbing my head.

He stood there for several minutes, staring at me. This long silence was almost as awkward as the morning glare he had with Aster. He rubbed his chin a couple of time before smiling at me and stretched his hand toward me.

"Ok then", he said with the same tone he used when we talk together in Antarctica, "I'm willing to try this supposed friendship with you."

In a manner, I was happy. Maybe this was a chance for me to bring him back on the right path; I mean the not trying to kill the guardians and me. I knew I could keep him from frightening the kids; it was his job, his purpose, like mine was to bring winter. I reached out to shake his hand, sealing a new partnership. After that truce, we both got on our merry way to our first class.

* * *

**And another sleepless night for this new chapter. I hope you guys know I love you XD**

**Just kidding, I enjoy writing this fict. I almost look like a bad guy planning his next evil plot staying up this late with my cat purring on my laps.**

**So yeah, in this chapter, it's the introduction of the school life. It's not that I don't like Tooth or North, it's just that my favourite characters are Jack, Pitch, Sandy and Bunny. So that's why they have more "screentime" than the two others. But if you insist, I can put them more in the next chapters.**

**I can also give you a preview of the next chapter. All I can tell you is that we will see more the relationship between pitch, sandy and Jack, and a hint of one with Jack and Aster. So that mean dialogues and less thinking. Is there a P.O.V. that you would prefer? Like the one of Sandy, or maybe Jack and Bunny again, or the 3rd person view. Let me know if you have a preference. ^^**

**If you want to know what song Jack woke up on and the other he was dancing on in the morning here are the links:**

**"Mermaid" by Train= watch?v=IZ_VGbZd8No**

**"Give a little" by Hanson= watch?v=wqT_aZkBHoI**

**Thank you for reading (and thanks to _LibbyaLobster_ and _LittleLizardLover_ that comment every chapter I post. Guys, you are my morning candy when I wake up and read your comments 8D)**


	5. Show some compassion Crikey!

**3****rd**** person view**

Lunchtime. The long awaited break for student, almost like kids waiting for Santa Claus on Christmas Eve. It was the perfect moment of the day to chat with friends while eating lunch, or to catch up on homework. The big cafeteria was filled with loud noises as scholars from every grade were chatting on how their classes have been long, or what they'll do next weekend. Even if this hall wasn't the best working environment, it was providing tables and allowing food, unlike the library that was full of scholars that couldn't bear the cafeteria's echo. Sandy would rather be there than in this noisy room, but at least Jack was with him, helping each other on their math problems. It wasn't really the strength of Jack; he was better with geography, history and gym. He was lucky to have a friend with the patience of a hundred Tibetan monk to explain him over and over, by writing, how to end with the good result. That was until their "calm atmosphere" crashed with the arrival of Aster, crushing the solutions papers on the table. He was looking rather out of breath and seemed a bit paranoid as he was always watching his surrounding, trying to catch his breath back. Jack, sitting in front of the exhausted Aster, and Sandy, kneeling on the bench right next to Jack, both look up to the new intruder, a bit annoyed that this one had just rumpled their homework.

"I can't take it anymore", the worn out Aussie finally spit out, "they're everywhere!"

"Mind telling us whom you're hiding from like this", asked Jack not really caring but amused at the Australian's reaction.

"Those bloody girls", he replied hitting the table with his palm, which had the effect of making Sandy jumped a bit.

"Aaaaaw…poor…poor…Aster", said Jack sarcastically with a smirk on his face, "being too popular with girls, he has no luck at all, it's a shame really."

That funny remark just making Sandy laugh in silence as this last one scribbled something to show to Aster:

"_Why don't you just tell them off?"_

"I don't think you're getting it Sandy", replied Aster, "those sheilas don't take a no for an answer."

"But I thought there was this guy hanging around with you."

"He's even worse", the Aussie said grabbing the shirt of Jack to pull him up to face, "when I'm not paying attention he just comes and gropes me from behind. Then next thing I know, he start playing with my ass until I shove him away."

"I'm sure that if you knock some senses into him he'll understand", Jack told him tired by this little argument and trying to let Aster go from his shirt, "besides it's not like you don't have the muscle power to do it."

"Unlike you Frostbite, I try to not get into detention."

The southern guardian dropped on the bench in front of Jack and Sandy releasing at the same time the younger one. The two others just looked at each other, not really believing that those girls were like the Australian was saying. In truth, Aster had never been alone since they got to school. There was always someone with him, and it was most of the time with a group of ghouls with hormones that wanted to get the Aussie for themselves. He never really asked them for company, they were there as soon as he set foot on the school grounds. Him too wasn't really good at making friend. He preferred the calm and quiet of his warrant with his little egg warriors come and go while he was painting some. But when he had dared to enter in his first classroom, he was doom for the rest of the year of being chase by blood sucking girls, in need for a hot transfer student with an athletic look and a foreign accent. God that it looked exotic. Sandy simply got up on the bench to stretch and pat the head of his worn out friend that had tried to lose his fangirls all day.

"Why don't you just hang out with us", asked Jack tanked with the mourning of Aster.

The Australian look up, not really believing what Jack had just proposed. Jack and him weren't the best friends in the world, but they got better along since the defeat of pitch last Easter. Thinking of it, Aster never let the chance to Jack to prove himself. He could actually be a good friend. At least he knew that Jack and Sandy would be like his actual…acquaintances. It was worth a shot. It's a that time that a new figure came sitting at the table, making Aster jump, fearing it was one of his stalkers. But no, it turned out that Pitch wanted to join the little group. Rage boiled up inside the Australian like in the morning, looking up at the former Nightmare King that sat down like the ex-bunny wasn't even existing or even caring about the glare shot at him.

"What in the bloody hell are you doin' here", asked Aster angrily.

"I don't see your name written on the table", answered the British teen, "I can come and go where ever I want."

"If ya think that because you live with us under the commands of Manny we're goin' to get chummy", retorted the tattooed teen, "you're really getting mistaken."

"Oh I'm sorry for stealing your spotlight rabbit", replied Pitch, "but you should know that it was your youngest member who asked me to join your pitiful little group."

Both Aster and Sandy looked at Jack, hoping that this one would deny this fact. Unfortunately for them, Jack nodded to this news. Sandy wasn't so sure about this one, but why not give it a try. Now that Pitch wasn't under the powers of his Fearlings anymore, maybe there was something worth saving inside the shadow man. The little blonde shrugged and nodded to Jack to tell him he was ok with this proposition. It was all the opposite with Aster that took the opportunity to say what he had in his head kept all this time.

"Are you insane Jack", shouted the Australian, "we can't thrust this guy! Don't you remember what happened a few weeks ago?! He tried to kill us! And you want to give him a second chance? Are you serious?!"

Pitch wasn't surprised at this reaction, rolling his eyes not really caring about the other's opinion. What did surprised him was the one of Jack, who frowned his brows replying to his Australian friend.

"Let me tell you something _kangaroo_. Do you actually know how it feels like to be ignored by everyone for centuries? Do you know how mind destroying it can be? I don't think so! Because if you did, you wouldn't be here crying over something as pitiful as being notice by person without even having to lift a finger when I have to be a mischiefs for people to only glance at me. I decided to try and get Pitch on his good side for the reason that he only did all of this to be notice. So I'm giving him what he wants."

The tanned teen was a bit shocked at this answer. But he wouldn't let Pitch get the satisfaction of being stood up for, and surely not loose an argument to Jack. Pitch must have whispered some words of temptation to make him tip in his favour. That meant Jack was weak again when confronting the Nightmare King. He smirked, letting a small chuckle leave his throat.

"So…you've pity for him"

"It's called compassion asshole!", retorted Jack on an angry tone, getting up and leaving the table, not wanting to talk to the Australian anymore.

It annoyed the winter spirit so much that Aster was caring so little. In a matter of fact, that's how the Easter spirit must have seen Jack…as pitiful. He despised him for so many decades without even knowing the reason of his actions. It pained Jack to think that. Maybe Pitch was right after all. If Manny never brought up Jack as a way of defeating the Lord of Darkness, they would never have cared for the snow sprite, and maybe he would indeed have turn out like Pitch someday, drove by madness.

Sandy watches painfully his best friend walk away with so much sorrow. Angry, the little man got up on the bench, grasping his hands on a math manual to strike the Australian on the head. Seeing that, Pitch only shook his head in disapproval thinking that nobody should ever get on the Sandman's bad side.

"OW! Blimey Sandy! What the gives?" asked Aster rubbing his head.

The little guy started to insult and scold the former bunny for being so careless about his words; that he might have hurt Jack's feelings; that he should watch his tongue…but all of that were just mimics, leaving Aster in nothingness. Both Pitch and Aster didn't understand a thing, but they knew that Sandy was really mad at the Aussie.

"Words Sandy", said finally the Nightmare King jaded.

The guardian of dreams face palmed as he sat down to rapidly (and angrily) scribble so words in his notebook. His monologue being brought written, he showed annoyed his previous silent shouting:

"_That was cruel what you just said! And uncalled for...Don't you see that Jack compares himself to Pitch? Even if we don't want to, they are both very alike, and there's nothing we can change about it. He feels and sees the suffering through which Pitch has passed, and he cannot help but to try and fix this. He also wish to save Pitch from his greedy desires._"

"Ha! Save him", the Australian spat lowering the notebook to look directly at Sandy, "there's no hope in saving someone consume by darkness and envy", he finished looking at the Nightmare King from the corner of his eye.

Sandy took back his way of communicating, scribbling something again and showing it up to his friend:

"_We can't change who we are Aster…but we can mitigate the damages._"

With that last sentence, the tattooed teen has been beaten in the argument competition. Sandy was right, and it pained him to admit it. He would have to talk to Jack tonight. With all this fuss, nobody ever noticed that Pitch too had decided to leave the party.

* * *

The winter spirit was back to his lonely soggy place: the staircases. Being alone for so long made him begin to like his solitude. It was a miracle he hasn't started to talk to himself; but was talking to children that could not see or hear him counting? He didn't know anymore. He thought that finally he had taken a side, but he was still stuck between two sides, and he had to choose what would be best for him. In his deep thoughts, Jack didn't hear Pitch sit next to him. It's only when this last one spoke up that he snapped out of it.

"Compassion hun?" asked the tallest. Anyone who would pass by could think that they were maybe brothers: both thin, pale skin almost corpse like emanating a cold aura.

"What? Would you prefer pity?" asked Jack, lifting his sad but at the same time frustrated face to look at the black haired one.

"Tch! Pity is for the weak! I'm worth much more than that…and you too", he said, using a kind smile to build up his confidence. "I am wondering why you put so much hope into them. They cast you aside for so much time, and after you've proven yourself, they think you've betrayed them and chase you away, even if you're their last hope. Yet, you still stick with them, when I had never really let you down. I've always been on your side."

"I think…I was afraid", replied the youngest after a brief moment.

"Oh?" asked Pitch, knowing the answer, but wanting for Jack to open himself to the Nightmare King, to be vulnerable, where Pitch could strike at the right moment.

" I think I doubted your plan. I wanted to be believed in, not feared. I'm the guardian of fun. I couldn't possibly be associated with fear. So my only choice was to join the guardians. Otherwise, I think I would have followed you without hesitation. You're the only one who can entirely understand what I've been through."

Those word being said without sadness by the mischievous teen, they were more facts than build up sorrow. Jack looked calm next to the Lord of Darkness, like if he could freely talk with him without any restrictions. So the winter spirit did not join the guardians with full desires. It was his best choice to a better life without real complications. Pitch understood that part. He didn't lied to himself that he would have maybe done the same thing if he had been in Jack shoes. Only they were living in different worlds. The guardians belong to the light, while Pitch belongs to the realms of darkness. It was a shame that Jack was in the middle, not really a spirit of light, neither one of darkness. His soul was split in two: the ice was the cold, the death, the dark inside him; as for his center that monitored all of his spirit was the work of the light. So at any moment, the winter sprite could break and tip toward one side. Pitch had to have it before the guardians!

"It understandable", replied Pitch to the shorter one. It surprised Jack that the last one was accepting his decision.

"You don't belong to anyone", continued Pitch calmly, "You are a free spirit. You go where you want, bringing fun, but also death and despair. Nothing will ever change that, and the guardians will have to accept it one day or another."

"Yeah! That's it!", said Jack full of joy that Pitch was now fully understanding him.

"The problem with those weirdoes is that they think that good will prevail and that they can change the world. They seem to forget that the reality of human isn't filled with fairies and magic dust. There is pain, fear and death. They are children dreams. They don't get the fact that you and me are the real life. Fear keep people safe, but can also bring danger. As for you, you bring fun but also danger. The guardians don't understand that we are both the real life…or maybe they don't want to see it. That's why they try to change us that much."

"I guess you're right", replied Jack a bit disappointed by the truth of this fact. He couldn't change who he was, and he had to live with it. But now, he was in another life, he could try and sort things out between the guardians, Pitch, and himself. As for Pitch, everything was going according to his plan. The winter sprite was now thrusting him, and soon, he would be able to toy with his mind as much as he would like to.

* * *

That night, Jack had decided to skip diner with everyone else; he was still mad at Aster. Sandy had come to try and convince him to get down and eat with all the others, but Jack replied that he wasn't hungry and to just eat without him.

"What?" asked Ana full of concern while stirring her pastas, "But he's so skinny, he will have to eat something"

"Maybe we should go get him and bring him down", proposed Nick helping Ana by putting the cover, "in front of food, he will surely want to eat good food prepared by Tooth."

"I don't think forcing him will result in anything good", answered Pitch sitting next to Sandy his legs cross and head resting in his hand, elbow resting on the table.

"Ah would ya just shut it!" retort the pissed Australian.

"Must I bring back the fact that he is mad at you, not at me", replied the British, fixing the one concerned.

"What do you mean Pitch?" asked Ana curious.

Both her and Nick stopped their actions to listen to Pitch's explanation. Sandy knew this would go wrong, but he stayed there. One day or another, Aster would have to go and apologize to Jack, and maybe Ana and Nick could bring him to go see the spirit of mischiefs.

"Well your little egg sucker here insulted Jack at lunch time today", Pitch answered, smiling of satisfaction inside his head, "even Sandy was there to notice, he even scold him for doing so, but it seems that the ex-rabbit didn't apologized for his actions yet."

Ana and Nick looked toward Sandy who approved what Pitch had just said by nodding.

"What was the big idea Aster?" asked Ana a bit angry, "You know how mad he gets when we bring touchy subjects."

"You should watch your mouth when you're angry", retorted Nick in his big Russian accent, "but you should above all go and apologize."

"Yeah", said Aster ashamed, "I know."

Some second passed and nobody was moving.

"Right-Now!" said Ana dryly and authoritarian.

With those words, the Aussie was gone, not wanting to face the fury of the Tooth Fairy.

Jack was lying on his bed, reading his assigned English book for class. Even if it was silent in his room, he wasn't entirely focussing on the story. He wasn't paying any attention to his reading, still thinking of what Pitch has said to him earlier. He hoped he could work things out with everyone so he wouldn't have to choose between anyone. He would rather stay human for the rest of his life than having to make a choice. After reading over and over the same page, hope finally came knocking at the door.

"Come in", answered Jack lifting his eyes from his book.

The Australian open the door to enter, and close it behind, looking a bit shy.

"Oh it's you", said Jack dryly, "do you feel like crying over your poor fate again?"

"No I'm not!" retort Aster a bit angry by this remark, "and I wasn't crying!"

"Uh-hun…sure", replied Jack not buying it.

"Actually", continued Aster walking to Jack bed, sitting on it, "I came here to…apologize…for what I said earlier."

Jack didn't believe it. Did Aster just said sorry? The Australian never looked at him while doing so. Jack wondered how much pride he had to kill to tell him that. Jack sit up, laughing a bit at this thought.

"Awwww", replied Jack with a smile at the corner of his mouth, "so you DO care."

"Oh rack off, you bloody show pony", retort the Aussie pushing gently Jack laughing with him. "Come on mate, everyone is waiting for ya to start eatin'."

Jack nodded, laughing a bit before getting up and following the taller teen.

* * *

**Finally done. I promise myself to not go to sleep late this time! *Look at the clock * 2a.m.?! Big failure! Anyway, here you go, Angst scene, muahahahaha. And I can't tell you how eager I am to put more action in it. By action I mean maybe some magic involved, or maybe you know intimidation, or the real world's danger. I don't know, I'm thinking about it.**

**Oh yeah, while I'm thinking about it…would you like a pairing in this story? If yes, which one would it be? There will be a poll on my page for you to vote.**

**I'm starting to work tomorrow, so I don't know how I will be able to keep up with the updates, but I promise to publish one every week at least.**

**Thank you for reading~**


	6. Good news turning bad

"A dance night?" all the boys present at the table asked.

It has been a couple of weeks already and everyone seemed to live much better since the quarrel between Aster and Jack. The Australian had finally been a little less rude with Pitch. This last one was a bit more social with the other guardians, eating and walking with them, but in other circumstances, he kept his distances. It was Friday morning; Ana had eagerly waited for everyone to be there to tell the big news. She overheard it from her friend that was a member of the school activity club. As soon as the Indian looking girl had learned the details, she wanted her buddies to know as fast as possible, especially because of this activity rules.

"But not JUST any dance night", replied the past Tooth Fairy all exited that she couldn't stand in one spot, "To enter, girls must be accompanied by a boy. So no men, no show."

All of the male looked at each others, asking the others by the look if this event was a good idea. Women were dangerous at all time, but now with this little opportunity, they would become real vampires. Thirsty…unforgiving…vampires. That's what Aster was thinking about. It was as if he had been sentenced to the lions. The former rabbit wasn't feeling too hot about this idea. A fact passing through his mind, the little blond guy took his notebook to ask Ana a question:

"_Isn't there more girls than boys at school? There will be a lot of controversy._"

"True", answered the hyperkinetic ex-fairy, "but not every girl like to go dancing"

"It feels like an invitation to pranking", joked Jack stuffing his mouth with a full spoon of cereals.

"I'm hiring ya whenever you want if ya need some work mate", commented Aster on Jack's last joke doing the same as the winter sprite with his apple porridge.

"We should put bet on who will be invited first", the Russian proposed laughing, already at his second bowl of porridge.

"Then I bet we will have stewed rabbit tonight", smirked Pitch biting into his toast.

"Nah ha ha…really funny", the Australian falsely laughed.

While this argument was taking place, Sandy had the time to write another question, showing it to Ana:

"_Have you chosen your partner yet?_"

"No", she answered, "I didn't want to ask you guys, because maybe you want to go with someone else. You know, maybe have a girlfriend."

"At least we know that Aster won't have any difficulties with that", everyone chuckled to Jack's remark, except the Aussies.

"Well Toothie", said Nick with a calm smile, "If you don't find anyone, you can come and see me."

"Thanks Nick", said Ana really happy, "But I will try to get someone by myself."

"I think I'm going to have cavities if this continues", said Pitch rolling his eyes.

Suddenly, a striking noise of utensil hitting a glass was heard as Sandy was finally getting noticed. He was showing a page of his notebook all written in capital letters:

"_IT'S 8 O'CLOCK! WE HAVE TO MOVE OR WE'LL BE LATE!_"

He didn't have to write it twice for everyone to move.

* * *

What was better than biology at the first period? To dissect a rat in biology first period. It was the favourite class of Ana, to learn even more about the living body. Even if it was the teeth that she was most attracted to, she found that class really interesting. Getting to be teamed with one of your best friends helped a lot too. They were paired in groups of two, and she chose Jack as partner. The browned hair teen like a lot when there were dissections planned to the program, which meant easiest ways to prank people. Everybody knew it was dangerous to put Jack with animal's parts. Last time, they studied over frogs, and some girls in the class found some frog legs in their pencil cases. It was quite a laugh. This time, while everybody was focused on their task of discovering the internal organs of a lab rat, the ex-winter spirit decided to cut the tail of their subject. Smirking, he twisted the tail between his fingers.

"Wait a bit Tooth", said the blue eyed teen, "I'm gonna go prank some girls at the back of the class."

With that, the prankster in his white lab coat was gone, sneaking at the other end of their classroom. Ana chuckled a bit, like this fun side about Jack. She liked all of her friend for their centre; it was what made them so unique. However, the fact that she was getting so well with all of her male friends didn't pleased some other girls at all. Some groups of girl were jealous of Ana not having to work hard to be friend with the other guardians. It was the case of the leader of a popular group named Jessica. So her friend and her had to make sure that the tooth freak wasn't going to invite one of the other guardians. Being on the same dissecting counter, she just turned to Ana to start working on the discouragement program.

"Hey Ana", started Jessica, drawing the attention of the concerned, "you've heard of the dance night that will take place in a month?"

"Oh yeah", she answered all excited, "I can't wait for it."

"I'm sure of it", the other chuckled softly, "must be a hard decision by the way."

"What do you mean?" asked the teen with coloured strands.

"Well", continued the other teen, "having to choose between your…mates, it must be a difficult choice not to hurt them with your decision."

"Oh no", said Ana laughing a bit, "they already know I'm going to get someone else for that special evening."

"Ah", said the blonde girl, "you don't have enough of five men that you have to go for the other ones…slut!"

"What?" said Ana, shocked by the comment of Jessica who continued.

"Yeah 'cause, having a relation every night with one of your fuck friends isn't enough that you have to come and bite some fresh apple at school! You little whore!" finished Jessica, with her three friends laughing at the former Tooth Fairy.

"It's not true! I'm only friend with them!" retorted angrily Ana.

"That's what she said", replied Jessica laughing with her friends, "It's typical for an Indian like you. Living in house full of men, and only saying that they are your friends to cover this up. That's one of the lamest excuses I've ever heard."

Ana didn't know what to answer to that. Tears were beginning to well up in her eyes, but she bite her sob back, not wanting to look weak in front of those girls that had the upper hand on this argument.

"You do know that with me, rumours travel really fast. So if you don't want me telling all the school about your adventures, you'll have to do everything I tell you to do. Like a perfect slave…anyway it's in your genes right? So you should know", they all laughed again.

The Indian looking girl only wanted to punch their pretty teeth out of their mouth, but what Jessica said next froze any action she would have take.

"And if you ever speak to that to anyone, even your "best friends", we'll tell the whole school about what happens in your house at night. I'm sure it wouldn't be profitable for anyone, especially your mates" she finished smirking.

With those final words, the bell rang, making everyone in the classroom pack their things, not even noticing the bullying that took place seconds ago under their nose. Jessica and her gang gave a final smirk at Ana before leaving the class with all of the other students. Ana was frozen on place; how could people be so mean? She didn't do anything wrong. So why were those girls saying things like that? It saddens her as more water welled up in her eye, not wanting to run down her cheeks. The pranks of Jack being over along with the period, he got back to the sad fairy.

"I'm back, sorry it took so long, everyone was expect-", he stopped himself, looking at his friend.

"Are you alright Tooth?" he asked full of concerned, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Y-yeah", she said as she straightens back, wiping away the tears in her violet eyes, " just got some dirt in my eyes. I'm gonna go… remove it, sorry."

She took her schoolbag and stormed out of the class before Jack could say anything more.

* * *

It hasn't been two minutes that he's been sitting in his art class, waiting for the teacher, that his stalkers were already after him asking about the dance.

"Do you have someone yet?"

"Can I be your date?"

"We would be sooo matching together!"

"Pleaaaaaaaaase!"

Aster couldn't take it anymore. Why in Manny's name did he deserve to be invaded like this? Do those girls have personal space issues? The patience of the guardian was running low. He was hoping for a miracle to happen so those girls would leave him alone. He didn't know if MiM was listening to his prayer, but at that moment, his blue eyed and brown haired friend decided to finally show up. Sitting next to his stalked friend, Jack couldn't hold a snort of amusement.

"Always as popular as I see", said the smaller teen, "You know girls…and boy, that someday he will crack under the pressure. Keep it up and maybe you'll have your chance."

The Australian gave a cursed look to his friend at his right. If glare could kill, Jack would be dead at least twenty times. It made Jack chuckle as he took a sip of water from his bottle.

"We know that", said one girl.

"He'll have to choose one of us for the dance", said another one.

"Or he'll be all alone for that special night", finished the boy.

A brilliant idea popped into Aster's head to get rid of those pests for at least a month. So with a serious face:

"Actually sheilas…and mate", began the Aussie, "I can't go with you to the dance…'cause I'm already going with Jack."

Hearing this made the other teen spit out his water, chocking on it. "WHAT?!"

"WHAT?!" said the girls in union.

"Yes. He was so desperate of not finding a girl to go with that we thought on going together so he would not pass his entire night alone. Ain't that right Jack?" asked the Australian with a big smile, passing his arm around the neck to show how chummy they were, almost choking the poor winter spirit.

"Y-yeaaah…that's right", answered Jack, still trying to stop coughing his water, "sorry girls…and boy."

With that devastating news, the stalkers of Aster all retreated with a pout on their faces. When the tattooed teen was sure that they were at a safe distance, he let go of his friend who glared at him for almost starting a rumour concerning the question of his sexual orientation. Jack pointed his finger at his friend's face:

"You-owe-me big time!"

The Australian nodded, thanking him for playing the comedy along. Jack knew he would regret this someday. He was seeing it coming in big shiny flashing pink neon. The guardian of fun rubbed his face as the teacher entered the class, everyone going to their places.

"Oh Manny", said the blue eyed one, "this is going to be a loooong month."

* * *

**Here you go! You have more Ana (Aka Tooth) screen time. XD Poor Tooth, it almost pained me to write this. But I know that those situations exist, so the guardians are facing what real life school is. (Maybe I went a bit over the top, but hey...it's a story, I have the right to go over the top sometimes ;D)**

**I know that this chapter is short and that there're a lot of dialogues. I didn't really know how to start this one, and so I let it flow.**

**If you would like of me to write about something (like school difficulties, or mugging, magic, or anything like that that could have a link with the principal subject), or about one character in particular, you can ask me, and I'll see what I can do. Hearing your opinions gives me inspiration.**

**Also, don't forget to go vote of my page about the pairing poll. If you don't want one, just go click on the "No pairing please". At least I will know where I'm going. For now there is only one vote. Come on guys, I want to hear you loud and clear! XD**

**Thanks for reading~**


	7. Guardian of a guardian

It has been showed statistically that women show more emotions when an event gives them some feelings than men. And statistics don't lie. For the past two weeks, it has been the mental survey of Pitch, watching the schoolgirls running from the entrance of the school to the other end. The only time when they weren't fussing about this stupid dance night was when a teacher was speaking. Even with that, there were some notes circulating between the students, especially the female ones. It was in some ways entertaining for the shadow teen. A bonus was that nobody even approached the black haired teen. Everybody thought that he was creepy: never speaking to anyone, having this corpse-like features, all dress in black, smiling in a creepy way sometimes when he was alone, but above all was those piercing amber eyes looking like those of a cat in the dark. Sure he was alone, but no one dared to go and bug him, afraid of what he could do. This reputation pleased Pitch. Even in this life, people were afraid of him, but above all, they knew he existed, they knew he was there, and they feared him. Once again, his crooked smile was back on his face, thinking about those facts.

"You seem to have happy thoughts Pitch", a Russian accent spoke to him.

Oh yeah…he was with this guy…Why again? It's not like if Pitch had invited him to join his table. No no no no no! The big guy decided to burst into his bubble without the ex-Nightmare King's permission. He wondered if it was a requirement to have personal space issues to be a guardian. Didn't Nick have someone else to bother? They were both sitting in the cafeteria, at the end of a long lunch table; Nick doing his homework in front of Pitch who was leaning on his elbow, face in his palm, analysing the room's population.

"You have no idea", said the crooked smiling man, looking in the emptiness.

"You going to dance party?" asked the Russian leaving the sigh of his homework to look at the teen sharing his table.

"Think I'll pass", answered the other one, still not looking at him.

"Why so? It will be fun", said the joyful guy with a big smile.

"Like you said, it will be fun. I don't go to places that are fun", retort the black haired. "Call me back when it'll be a Halloween dance. Maybe then it will deserve my attention."

The northern guardian shook his head in disapproval. He thought that this guy was a lost cause. Until someone approached the table, turned toward Pitch with her hands behind her back showing her nervousness. Nick looked at her; she was about the same size as Jack, a long face with curly long black hair that was arriving at her hips. She had this gothic look in black and green. This caught the sigh of Pitch who raised his amber eyes to meet those pure green fixing him. He raised an eyebrow, not moving from his original pose, waiting for her to speak. After long minutes of silence, Pitch got bored and started tapping his fingers on the table.

"Can I…help you?" finally asked the shadow teen.

"I…" she started as her cheeks began to get tainted, "I was wondering if…if you would…come with me at the school dance party."

Both guys stared at her with shocked faces, looking afterwards at each other to be sure they didn't dreamed what she just said. Then Pitch returned his attention to her.

"Wh-what?" asked the former Boogeyman, still not believing it.

"I would like for you to accompany me at the school dance in two weeks" she said in one shot, straightening herself so he could hear better, even though she was as scarlet as Nick's shirt. "I would be very happy if you said yes", she continued as she started to play with the layers of her black and green tulle skirt.

"Huu…I-", started the black haired teen before getting cut by the jolly teen in front of him.

"Of course he will! He was telling me right now that he had no date yet. You are lucky girl for him to go with you"

"I will?" replied the master of fear to Nick with a glare that was saying 'who do you think you are answering in my place'.

"Really?" asked the girl full of hope.

"Of course he will", replied Nick ignoring the flames in Pitch's eyes.

"I'm so happy!" she said looking at Pitch, her green eyes shining like emeralds with he little shy but serene smile delimited by black painted lips. "Thank you so much"

"Y-yeah", answered Pitch almost charmed by her smile. This sensation was awfully familiar and her smile remembered him someone he knew once, but couldn't put his finger on whom. "Whatever…sure", he finished crossing his arms on the table looking away from her to hide a hint of colour on his cheeks.

With that, the little gothic girl left the boys to go tell her friends that were waiting for her, all excited by the news. A good five minutes passed before Pitch decided to speak to Nick after glaring at him for this event.

"I think that's why I hate you"

Blue eyes lifted from his homework with a smirk at the corner of his mouth.

"And why is that my dear comrade?" asked the jolly teen, not feeling guilty at all of what he had just done.

"Because you never mind you own business", said Pitch angrily.

"Come on Pitch" retort Nick giving a strong pat on the side of the British's arm, almost making him fall off from his seat. "You will have fun! It will be different from what you do everyday."

"Haaarg…" sighed the black one, "Bloody hell you're getting on my nerves."

Nick laughed at the last comment. They started picking up voices that they recognized.

"Ah come on Jack! I didn't know that it would happen. I said I was sorry, what do ya want more"

And there sat an angry looking Jack beside Pitch, trying to ignore the Australian that was running after him to apologize for something. Pissed by the lack of attention from the winter boy, Aster went to sit next to Nick, right in front of the ex-sprite that still didn't want to look at him.

"Jack? Jack!" continued the Aussie leaning above the table, almost lying on it, desperately trying to get his attention. "Cranky Jack! Would'ya just look at me! I said I'm sorry! I didn't know that it would turn out like this!"

"What has happened?" asked Nick his curiosity getting the better of him.

"It happened that Mister here told his groupies that I asked him to be his partner for the dance. But news flash fast in a freaking high school, and now everyone thinks here that I'm gay only because MISTER wanted to get away from his stalkers and just couldn't say no to them! That's what freaking happened!" answered a raging Jack accusing the Australian in front of him, but still doing as if he wasn't there.

"Oh boy", commented Pitch raising his eyebrows. "I told you we would have stewed rabbit"

"Shut it Black!" retorted Aster.

"I don't see problem in being gay", said Nick all innocent.

"It's the fact that I'm NOT gay!" retorted Jack angrily, "and I don't want trouble regarding that!"

"I am sure that you will have no trouble Jack" replied Nick, "I think that kids these days accepted those situations."

"Haa dammit", sighed the brown haired one, "I hope you're right."

"Don't worry mate", reassured Aster, "if someone even try something, I'll punch their teeth out of their mouth."

"Hey! Speaking of which" began Jack on a questioning tone, as if he had never been angry at all, "has anyone talked to Tooth recently?"

"Nah" answered Pitch not really interested in the conversation anymore.

"Now that you say it", commented Nick, "it has been two weeks since we talked with her. She has been avoiding us."

"Yeah I know", said Jack full of concern, "I tried to speak with her in class, but she just ignore me saying that we have to work. I wonder what's happening with her."

* * *

At lunchtime, the gym was completely deserted. No students, except for some guys that were playing basketball sometimes in their free time, were roaming around the area. But this day, the girl's locker room was occupied by a group of five girls laughing. They were actually mocking another teenage girl that was crouching under the public shower of the girl's room. Completely soaked, the young Indian looking girl was shivering after the bullies forced her under a cold shower all clothed. The poor Ana lifted her head with her soaking hair sticking in her face, looking at the mocking girls in front of her.

"P-p-please", she asked, "leave me alone…I'm s-so…cold."

"You know what?" asked Jessica, the leader of the group, "You're right. We should warm you up a bit. But first we needed to get those cold soaking clothes off you"

Even if she screamed, even if she struggled to get out of their grasp, the poor former fairy was outnumbered as three girls get a hold of her by enrolling their arms around hers and her waist. The fourth girl got a pair of scissors from her bag and handed them to Jessica, who got a hold of the Indian girl's face with her right hand.

"Tch tch tch tch! My dear Ana", began the blonde girl, showing the tool in her left hand to her victim, "If I were you, I would stay still. After all, we don't want to cut something on your pretty little slutty body."

If Pitch was still the Boogeyman, he would have been able to feast for a month on the normally joyful girl. She was so scared, terrified to be more precise as the scissors started to make their way across the soaked shirt, cutting up to the neck. Tears started flow, seeing her body gets striped; she was so embarrassed. Leaving only her underwear untouched, the two girls holding her arms brought her back under the shower and start the hot water. Ana screamed in pain as her skin got brutally boiled by the water running down her body. She thought there would be no end to this madness, that she would never get out of this bullying. She suddenly started to hear screams that were not from her, and no more hands holding her. The Indian teen just backed up to the wall behind her, crouching on the ground, looking at her burning skin that was turning red. It was frightening; how could her beautiful tanned skin could be this red. The poor girl heard some footsteps getting closer. She didn't want to look up, she was so afraid that he assailant would torture her again. Instead of what she thought would arrive, she felt a towel being put around her, accompanied by a gentle touch. Amethyst eyes slowly rose up to meet with golden ones looking at her with so much concern and worry.

"S-sandy?" she finally choked out.

He smiled at her sweetly getting is cell phone out of his pocket to write something and it to her:

"_I'm sorry, but this is all I found in the lost and found box near the door._"

She was so happy that he came to her rescue. It almost seemed impossible that a miracle like this had happened, just when she needed it.

"Hey buddy!" Jessica's voice spoke up angrily.

The two others looked at the girls that were also soaked due to Sandy that opened the other showers to make the mean leader and her quartet go away.

"I don't know if you noticed", said Jessica pissed off, trying to intimidate the duo on the ground, clearly failing on the Sandy part, "but you're in the girl's room you pervert!" Her friends backing her by repeating some of her words.

The four feet tall teen, simply got up, clearly not impressed. He walked to the leader of the group typing something on his phone and showing it to her.

"_I don't know if you noticed but…I don't care. Go away!_"

"HA!" retorted Jessica on a mocking tone, "You think you can scare me dwarf?! Don't make me laugh!"

The little blond guy never showed any weakness in front of those girls, he was still straight up, typing his response on his phone:

"_It's sure that a scaredy cat like you couldn't be afraid with your little sheeps when you're five against one girl. What's the matter? Too afraid she could beat you in a fair fight bitch?!_"

As soon as Jessica read those words, she fumed in rage, lifting her hand in the air to strike Sandy on the cheek. Only this little guy seeing it coming caught her wrist applying pressure points on the delicate skin. Twisting more and more, the leader soon found herself kneeling on the ground, Sandy not showing a let go anytime soon. All of the other followers were backing up against the opposite wall. The former guardian of dreams typed his next sentences before showing it to his victim:

"_Let's be clear on some things. You will leave Ana alone starting now! If I hear that you're bullying her again, I swear to the moon that I will be your worse nightmare! I may not be tall, but you should never get on my bad side because it is not pretty. I won't go easy on you just because you're girls. So now SCRAM!_"

He didn't have to say it twice that the girls were already running away from the little kung fu master. This last one turning to his friend who was silently sobbing on the ground, half naked. When he arrived near her, she practically jumped on him, burying her face into his shirt, crying even more. She was so lucky to have a friend like Sandy. He was the silent friend who didn't need for Ana to speak that he knew what to do. Just stand there, stroking her head to comfort her. But she wondered:

"Sandy", she asked, "How did you know I was here?"

The blond typing his answer:

"_I was actually looking for you when I asked some student if they knew where you were. Some guy told me that he saw you enter the girl's lockers room with a group. When I arrived, I wanted to wait outside for you to come out, but when I heard you screamed, I stormed in to see the unfortunate event. You should have told us that those girls were bullying you._"

At those words, Ana remembered the threat Jessica told her. Realizing what happened, panic took hold of her thoughts. Purple worried eyes shot open to stare at those golden, gripping more on his shirt.

"Sandy!" she started panicked, "It's horrible! They will spread a rumour about you guys! It's all my fault I shouldn't ha-", suddenly silenced by the finger of the little man who was once again typing something on his cell:

"_Don't worry Tooth…we're here for you and we won't let you down! I promise you're going to be fine…believe me._"

* * *

**YAAAY! Badass Sandy in action! I know I've skipped some time and didn't show other moments of Tooth being bullied, but to be fair I didn't want it to go on too long. I wanted Ana to stay to being the little ball of energy she was, but now knowing about the real life problems and why teenagers weren't believing in the guardians anymore.**

**If you're wandering about the girl who came to Pitch…Yes! I dared! I inspired myself from his daughter to create someone that Pitch would someday begin to appreciate (if you don't know what I'm talking about, read 'Guardians of Childhood'). And it's kind of funny to see him react to those situations.**

**I think that in the next chapter, I will begin to include magical events. I don't know…I'll see…so tired.**

**Thanks again for reading, and a special thank to LittleLizardLover who's making me laugh at each comment she post when I'm publishing a new chapter.**


	8. They like to move it

"NOOOO! Let. Me. Be!"

"Come on Jack! Stop being a child!"

"I don't want to go! Leave me alone!"

The night was still young for the former guardians who were getting ready for the special dance night at their school. Even if Nick wasn't invited by a girl, he decided to go anyway to keep company to his two buddies who were fighting. Aster has tried to convince Jack all month to go with him so his famous stalkers wouldn't attack him, but it hadn't any success unfortunately for him. Now, he was reduced to pull Jack's leg to drag him out of his room, while the other was desperately clinging to his bed's base. Both Pitch and Nick were watching the scene from the corridor, none of them wanting to get involve in the problem Aster had sown.

"Jack", started the Easter guardian still pulling, almost kneeling on the ground, "This is getting ridiculous. Just come already, you said you would go with me."

"It's not like you gave me a choice", retorted the winter spirit trying to hold as good as he could, even thought his grip was beginning to slip, "I was hoping to go with a cute girl, not you!"

"One of you will have to give up at some point", commented the nightmare king who was getting tired of waiting for them.

"Why do you even want me to go with you?" asked Jack, "Nick is going alone, you can go with him."

Aster never really thought about it. It's true that the jolly teen was on his own for the night, why was he actually fighting for Jack to go with him then? Maybe he was expecting that this last one would be the first to get into the game since he was the guardian of fun. Although it was true that the month hadn't been a joyful ride for him since everybody was thinking that he was gay. He never heard the end of it, and that's without talking about the fact that no cute girl invited him for the event. Aster had just taken the first opportunity he had to invite someone else (or at least pretend) to have the night for himself without any trouble. So to stay out of the ghoul's targets, he had to go with his supposed date. There was nothing of sentimental involved.

"If you come with me", proposed the Australian, "I'll buy you Ice cream for a month."

That last proposition seemed to draw the interest of the struggling one who let go of his grip. This had for effect of Aster falling on the ground on his back and Jack landing on top of him, ending in a beautiful 69 position; not awkward at all. Quickly, the browned haired one flipped on his side to sit next to the former bunny, looking at him. The other one straighten up, helping himself of his elbows to look at his partner that was about to negotiate.

"A summer of ice cream, and I'm not forced to stay with you all night", proposed the youngest.

"Deal!" answered Aster, relieved to have won the argument.

They both shook on it as Jack told them to wait for him outside his room since he had to change in something more confortable for the party. Closing the door behind him, Aster expressed his victory by doing a high five with Nick. It has been though, but he did it. Pitch was a bit disappointed in the turn of event. He though Jack was a bit more stubborn than what he had witness tonight, although that mean it would be easier to play with his mind when time would come for Pitch to do his move. Speaking of which, he looked at his cell phone to know what time it was. Already 18h30. He had to go if he didn't want to be late for his own date. He never thought he would have to endure it, but it was part of the game. The shadow teen had to prove to the others that he wasn't thinking about destroying them anymore, and that included taking up the offer of this little cute gothic girl in green with those wonderful long curly hai- What was he doing now?! The Nightmare King cursed to himself for thinking such unprofessional things. With that, he bid farewell to the two other boys and went down to get out of the house and take the lead on them.

A thought came to Nick: he hasn't seen Ana of all day. Sandy texted them that he went home with her, but when the rest of the group got there, they had both locked themselves into the girl's room, and never got out. It piqued the curiosity of the guardian of wonder. He went to her door and knocked to get their attention.

"Toothie?" began Nick with a hint of joy, "Are you ready? We will be late for dance you were so eager about"

Some noise were heard in the room, and then little footstep coming to an halt in front of the door, unlocking it, to only open slightly, enough for Sandy to slip his hand out handing his phone to Nick with a text written on it:

"_Don't wait for us, we'll catch up with you later._"

"Oh sure" answered Nick, a bit disappointed, but thought that Ana wasn't ready yet. She was girl after all; maybe she needed a bit more preparations than guys. "Send us message when you arrive."

The blond teen nodded and closed the door after getting his cell back. At that time, Jack had change himself in some torn skinny jeans and white long sleeves t-shirt with a blue short sleeves one over it. The trio made their way out of their house, Jack still obstinate of wearing no shoes; lucky for him, the warm temperature of late may allowed to do so. Aster hadn't insisted for the outside part, but suggested to him to bring a pair of shoes to be able to enter the school, what Jack did against his wills. On their way to the party, Jack and Aster were talking about their art project and such, while Nick was left with his thoughts.

Suspicions were haunting Nick as he was sure something had to go wrong with their little bird of paradise. For the past month, she'd been acting weird and distant. Adding to that two weeks later, Sandy was as mysterious as she was, but he was the silent type, so it wasn't differing from usual really. A hundred thoughts passed through the jolly teen's head, but he only registered one that he though was the most important: maybe they had an affair. Four weeks earlier, Tooth had discovered her feelings toward Sandy, but not knowing how the little teen would react, she kept it for herself. But then, two weeks following this discovery, she finally made her move and asked the blond guy out, which returned the feeling. Fearing that the other guardians would take it the wrong way, they decided to keep their little secret to themselves, not getting involved with the others anymore and then someday they would abandon the group to go away in their little dream palace filled with baby Tooth and baby Sandy. What a creepy offspring it would do.

"NO! The feathers will get all sticky with this wet sand!" expressed Nick out loud.

Jack and Aster were stick to each other when their tallest friend had shout out his thoughts. Their big eyes translating their confused and freaked out feelings. For the whole mental process, Nick had gesture and mimicked with his face all of his thinking, which had for effect to make the two others look at him with an unsure look. The guardian of wonder had just processed that he had screamed it out loud, and look at his two friends with an awkward face.

"Y-you alright mate?" dared the Aussie, still stuck with Jack in his arms.

"Oh…hum… да", answered the now embarrassed Russian, trying to let his friends know that there was nothing to be concerned about. "Do not worry about me. I was…hum…meditating.

Easter and winter spirit looked at each other before breaking away from one another. With all this fuss, they finally arrived at the school. It was time for party, dancing, having fun, but most of all, it was time for Jack to put his sneakers on. With some rage mumbling from their youngest member, the entered the school to go the gymnasium where they would party like rock stars all night long.

* * *

Pitch had arrived long before the trio, waiting for his date to show up. He wasn't fond of those events, but at least it was in the dark with only little spotlights. The major thing he despised was the room full of people and the loud music. He was a shadow lord! That meant silence, dark, lonely and sneaky. It was the pure contrary of what he had been force to go to. Anyway, he had done a minimal effort to be presentable: a black shirt with dark skinny jeans and boots. He had a style to keep up, at most, he doubted the gangsta style would fit him. The British thought that this fashion was totally ridiculous, enough to make him do nightmares, which was ironic for the Boogeyman. A clearing of the throat brought Pitch back on earth as his sight caught the one of his partner. His jaw almost dropped wide open when he saw the beauty to his eyes next to him. This girl looked like a fancy maid with her green headband attached around her head adorned with lace. Her corset was a pure green with ribbons on each side of her tight and another one going around her neck to crossover her chest and joint with her corset. Long black patterned tulle were making her sleeves, letting her shoulder exposed. Her skirt looking like the one the nightmare king had seen the first time he met her. This entire outfit finished by black thigh-highs and platform gothic lolita green shoes. If she had been part of the spirit world, he would have make of her his Nightmare Princess. There he caught himself again thinking about unprofessional stuff. He couldn't get himself distracted from his goal. After some minute of Pitch starring at her, the black haired girl decided to make the first move.

"I think you look dashing tonight", she commented with a beautiful smile.

"Hu…thanks…I guess", answered the Nightmare King, "You too you look…cute."

"Thanks! Shall we go inside?" she asked her partner.

"Look", started the shadow teen with a hand on his forehead, "I'll be honest with you, I hate those place. It's too noisy and full of people bumping into one another."

"Oh", she said not so surprised, but look relieved as well, "It doesn't matter, we can just go out together if you want, like take a walk just you and me."

The Boogeyman smiled a bit. She wasn't so bad after all. He could allow himself to take a little break from planning the destruction of the guardians for one little night. In a gentleman manner, he offered his arm to the young girl who took it with pleasure and both of them were off into the wonders of the night, walking side by side.

* * *

She had been dying for this event for so long, and there she was, sulking at home. Sandy didn't understand. After all, he had been able to clear thing up a bit between Ana and the mean girl club. When Sandy could, he spent all of his time with the former fairy to avoid her of being attack again. Even though, he couldn't stop anything. If there was something that hurt more than physical abuse, it was the words. Jessica and her gang had continue to persecute her with notes that they were sticking on her locker or throwing it on the poor girl who would read it after. Her moral was low and after this rough month, she wanted to stay away from them, at home all alone; except that Sandy wasn't near gone. She had asked him to not tell the others about her condition, she didn't want them to worry about her or cause more trouble than what was already happening.

Sitting on her bed, her legs to her chest, head resting on her knees and arms wrapped around them, she looked so depraved in her pyjama with her hair all messy with bangs in front of her face almost hiding her sad look. Sandy sat next to her, brushing her hair to make her less of a morning monster. Not departing her eyes from the ground she asked the blond a question that was haunting her thoughts for a while now:

"Sandy", she began, "why aren't you going at the dance. You don't have to stay with me you know. I don't want to spoil your evening."

The guardian of dreams stopped his action, sighing. He flipped his phone open and started to write a long answer for her to finally understand that he wasn't going anywhere.

"_Do you really picture me in a loud environment. No thanks! I'm good with you Ana. I prefer to stay at home with a really good friend who needs me, than in a big loud dark room where everyone would bump into me. Did you see how not tall I was? I would become a Sandy pancake at the end of the night._"

The last sentence made Ana laugh a bit. Sandy was right. She did need him. She was just feeling guilty of depriving him of the party, but she never thought that Sandy never wanted to go. This little guy licked quiet and calm, it was in fact the reason why he never spoke as a guardian. Not wanting to wake up children, he took the habit of communicating with his sand and lost his ability to speak out loud. After a moment, the little blond took a deep inspiration and composed a text on his cell, showing it to Ana:

"_Tooth…I think you should really talk of your problem to the others._"

"No", she answered looking away, "I don't want to impose to them my problems."

Sandy knew he had to come up with a good reason why the guardians wouldn't let her down, which he typed:

"_Remember when we had the teeth problem, everyone, even Jack who didn't knew us really well, had fun helping you. If they come yelling at you for something that isn't your fault, they don't deserve to be guardians._"

"But", started the Indian girl looking at him, "The other girls said that they would spread rumours about you guys…really bad ones that I'm so embarrassed to tell you."

"_Like what?_" asked Sandy via his phone.

"They…they said that I was having…hum…an affair with all of you guys. That I was a whore and that each night I would go in one of your room to have…you know…"

Some time passed with Sandy looking at her with big eyes, to finally break in a silent laugh. Tooth didn't understand what was happening, why was Sandy laughing at a matter so awful. With some little difficulties for him being in an infinite laughter, the blond guardian typed a response on his cell to show:

"_Clearly, you're not updated on the recent events._"

"What do you mean?" asked Ana curiously.

"_Well, everybody thinks that Jack is gay, Aster is always followed by a tone of groupies, so I doubt anyone would think that he had something at night since he's exhausted at the end of the day of running away from them. Nick…well…seriously. Do you really think someone would spread a rumour on this guy? He's the tallest and largest of all school. If I were these girls, I wouldn't cause any trouble with him. Pitch, well another girl asked him out, and seeing his character, everybody is afraid of him. As for me, nobody really knows or notice me. I doubt this would do a good rumour seriously._"

Ana was amazed to learn so much in such a short paragraph. How could she had not know what was happening with her best friends, the ones that were sharing this house with her? She spent a month worrying about this stupid fact that she could have easily solved by just speaking to them. She hadn't any problem before when she was a guardian of speaking to them. In fact, she gladly accepted their offer when North had proposed to collect the teeth for her. Why was that now that she was a teenager, it seemed so much difficult to speak out loud her problems? Maybe it was that, real life. Guardians were only childhood memories, bringer of joy, but they were not the heroes of their life. They couldn't count on them once they grew up. They had to stand up for themselves and face many problems in life, many obstacles that the neither the Tooth Fairy nor the Easter Bunny could solve. She understood now why children stopped at some point believing in the Guardians. Ana was suddenly taken out from her thinking as Sandy hang her out his phone to read:

"_Those girls only want to scare you Tooth. If you show them that they better not mess with you, they will stop bothering you. Where's the chimera I've known before? The woman who was able to do a thousand things at the time? The one who punched Pitch's tooth out for messing with her? Stand for yourself and don't worry about us. I'm sure that when you will have establish the rules between you and this Jessica girl, she will regret the day she started to bug you._"

And once again, Sandy was right. She was a fearsome warrior! She couldn't let herself get stepped on the feet. No! Now she had some business to settle with that pretty girl.

"You're right Sandy", she told him, getting up from her bed all glorious, "If I don't stand for it, I'm a not worthy of being called the Tooth Fairy! I will march to them and tell them that I deserve some respect!"

Sandy applauded her, writing an answer:

"_Good! Now get dress and go to that party!_"

"Ah that no", she replied.

"_Why not?_" typed Sandy, finding that funny she still wouldn't go.

"Because my dear friend" she began, smirking, "I decided it wouldn't be fair for you to stay all alone here while we have so fun. So we will stay here together, I will make us some fettuccine, and we will celebrate being young and being alive, just you and me."

Hanging out her hand, Ana made a confident smile to her friend still sitting on the edge of her bed. He silently laughed a bit then took the hand to stand up, and both went on to spend some friendly quality time together.

* * *

No stars were shining tonight as clouds were partially blocking Manny's view of earth. It was a bit cool for a late May evening, but the temperature was still pretty good. A little wind from the south was blowing the newly formed leaves away from the trees. The couple had been walking for at least an hour before ending on a park bench talking about everything and simply enjoying the nice weather Mother Nature was offering them.

"What's your favourite scary movie?" asked the young teenage girl to her partner.

"Well…" began Pitch, thinking about this odd fact: he never took the time to watch one. Sure he had been a lot in theatres, feeding on the fear people were experimenting while they were watching those horror movies, but he never sat in a theatre to watch one. Although, he couldn't just tell her what he has been doing in those dark room, she would he's completely crazy. " To be honest, I've seen a lot of scary movie, but never really watched one. Although I must say that the one that satisfied me the most was _The Exorcist._" He had never done a bigger feast than on this one when it came out.

"Oh yeah", she approved smiling, " one of the best horror movies of all time. But I preferred _Paranormal Activity 1._ I like the scary movie when you can't explain something, or you can't even see who is doing the evil deeds. It makes the tension even more thrilling. When you can feel cold hands running down your neck, but that there is just nobody, that's just freaking awesome", she continued running her pianist fingers on Pitch's spine.

It was official: He liked a lot this girl. She was almost as creepy as him, but in a cuter way. Through all their walking, she told him how great it would be to live in a haunted house, that all of her nightmares she did she was writing them down when she woke up, that it should be cloudy all day long and that she would like to be a famous writer like Stephen King or H.P. Lovecraft. It is like they were destined to meet each other. Almost like if she wasn't real. He never really noticed her anywhere in the school, although he never really looked for her anyway. She was certainly in a younger class than his. When he thought about it, he never asked her name. That was a bit rude, even coming from him.

"I just thought about it", he started, "what was your name again?"

"Well, well, well", she answered in a Machiavellian way, "I thought you would never ask. It's Seraphina. It was my father who gave me my name."

The name froze him in place, like time had stopped. He was sure he had met her, but he didn't remember when or where. She didn't look like any spirit he knew, even if her features and name were familiar. The Nightmare King would have to get to know her more. At that moment, he felt his senses tingling. He looked around in the woods behind them to see if someone or something was there. He felt like something was lurking near their spot, watching them with piercing amber eyes. He knew this feeling. It was cold and…dark. He could almost see a form hiding in the shadows like he had been once. Could they have survived the transformation, without having any master? The Boogeyman frowned at the sensation as he was brought back from his mental investigation by his date.

"Is everything alright Pitch?" Seraphina asked him innocently.

"Yes", still not departing his gaze from the mysterious spot, " I just thought I heard something."

"Must be the wind", she replied with the same tone as before.

"Surely", answered the tall teen, getting up. "We should go back, it's getting late and I had quite a long week."

"Of course", she said following his lead, "thank you for the evening, it was good getting to know each other."

"Indeed", he replied with a small smile, "I'll escort you home."

Both start to walk their way back to their house, as Pitch turned his head one last time to feel the strange sensation slip away in the dead of night.

* * *

The evening has been loaded with fun and dance. To Jack's surprise it turned out quite well. A lot of girls decided to dance with him, maybe because of the fact that they thought he wouldn't try anything since they all thought he was gay. Of course he would have to fix things right someday, but not this evening. He had fun, he laughed and talk with a lot of people he has never spoken to. Nick had hang out with some guys that were interested by the fact he was Russian and wanted to learn more, he even show a traditional dance to a girl that joined the group later. As for Aster, he was a bit loner in his side of the room, but he made friend with a first year student with long messy hair and green eyes; everyone in the school knew her as the otaku due to her winged school bag. Altogether, every one of the guardians had an excellent evening in their own way.

The party finished at 23 o'clock. The trio made their farewell to their new friends, and went on their merry way to their house. When they arrived at home, Pitch was already back in his room. As for the two others, they were sleeping on the couch in front of an open TV. Ana had her head on Sandy's laps and the last one was sleeping with his mouth wide open. Jack went to turn off their program while Nick got Ana in bridal style to get her up in her bed and Aster shook sandy a bit to wake him up.

"Ya should go spend the rest of your night in your room mate", said the Australian to the sleepy teen who nodded and got up to follow Nick upstairs. Jack was about to do the same when the guardian of hope caught his arm to stop him.

"Hey", he started, "I just wanted to say that…I really appreciated that you came tonight."

"Don't worry kangaroo", said Jack with a smirk, "I would have hated to miss the party, after all, I'm the guardian of fun, remember?"

"Yeah, you're right", smiled Aster, letting go of the arm. "Well then, g'night."

"Same to you", replied Jack as both teen went to their room.

* * *

**AAAAAND DONE! Yay! I wrote even longer this time. I reassure you, there is nothing going on between Tooth and Sandy, it's just Nick's crazy imagination. XD**

**And another thing, I inspired myself of Pitch's daughter to create the date of this guy, but it is not her! I would find it a bit too creepy for him to go out with a reincarnation of his daughter. But you'll see in not too long who she is and why it reminds Pitch of her.**

**If you're interested in seing how I picture the group, I made a sketch of their teenage look. Just follow this link = pridem. tumblr post/47848208197/finally-now-its-not-because-of-th e-chapters**

**So enjoy this longer chapter, and thanks for reading~**


	9. Un ciel pour le soleil

Summer! The biggest school break so much awaited by all students. For the past two weeks, all of the school population has been studying hard for the upcoming exam week. For the guardians who had never really put their mind into reading school work since a long time ago (for some), it has been one hell of a month, barricaded in their room or invading the kitchen table, studying and revising their manuals and past homework. The house had never been so silent. Then, June 21st would arrive in only one week. It would mark the end of all this struggling for everybody, except the teachers who would have to do tons of correction. All of the students would be screaming in ecstasy. No more getting up at 8 o'clock in the morning, no more homework due for yesterday and no more 'Jack! Put back your shoes!'. It would be freedom at last…but it would also mark the first day of summer. It was only the 17th and the hot temperature was already there. It was a thing a neither Nick nor Jack knew since they were always in cold places and this Monday was particularly hot for a late June; we could open the door and be slam by a heat wave. No moisture, no clouds, only the hot sun striking the dry soil.

It was 7:30 am and already the temperature was reaching 20 degrees outside. Sloppily, Jack took all of his strength to get downstairs without falling and dragged himself to the kitchen. Seeing his friend coming down (it would be more hearing him with all the moaning noise he was making), Aster raised his eyes from his biology manual to see the living corpse heavily walking in their direction. Pitch did the same by the corner of his eye, not really surprise to see this degradation of nature. In fact, he had been taking some bets with the Australian every morning of June to see when Jack would finally be unable to keep up with his normal activity under the hot circumstances. That day had finally come as Pitch smirk for he had won the bet. Aster had set his gambling a bit sooner in the month, but Pitch knew that the winter mischief was a bit tougher than a simple spring morning. Beside, they were human now, he could at least support a 15 degrees. But now, it was too much for Jack, even human, who would have collapsed on the ground if the Aussie hadn't pushed a chair for him to land on with his feet. His torso flat on the bench of the chair, the rest of Jack's body was hanging limply like a rag doll. Not having enough strength to sit normally. Aster watched his friend melting on the chair next to him, having a bit of pity for the brown haired one, as Pitch was thinking of it more like pathetic. Only a few minutes after the arrival of Jack, little step noise followed by heavy ones were heard as Ana, all happy to finally be able to wear her summer outfit without bringing any warm shirt, and Nick made their appearance in the kitchen.

"Ooooooh soleil soleil! Soleil soleil!" was cheerfully singing Ana on this beautiful morning.

"Well", commented Aster, "It's good ta know that someone's happe."

"You have no idea! Finally no more coat or warm shirt", answered Ana pouring herself some orange juice.

"It's a wander how ye've been able te get up before Sandy mate", said Aster addressing himself to Nick who was almost sweating as much as Jack.

"It is so hot that I could not sleep longer", replied the biggest teen, whipping his forehead with his 'nice' tattooed arm, "It is a bit cooler here than upstairs."

"Ya're right", replied Aster his mouth full of apple, " Ah don't know fer you Pitch, but I slept like a baby last night."

"I don't know", he answered with his monotone British voice, not raising his eyes from his schoolbook, "I studied all night for today's exam."

"Well me", proudly said the only girl, "I was able to memorize everything before going to bed."

"And what do you want us to do? Applause your success maybe?" asked Pitch sarcastically, "Your feat doesn't count since today is a biology exam, and that you were the guardian of memories. It would have been ironic for you to not have kept this incredible memory of yours."

"I will take that as a compliment", she proudly answered as she was about to drink her juice, but it was stole by Nick who drank the whole glass in almost only one swallow.

A little fight where Nick was obviously there winner all along started between the little Indian and the big Russian. Nothing serious, just a little morning game between the two for a stolen juice. Both broke up in laugh after the biggest teen caught the little one in his arms lifting her in the air. The dark teen shook in disagreement his head a bit annoyed by all of this rambling going on. He couldn't concentrate anymore on his studies even if he wanted to refresh his mind a bit before the big exam. Suddenly, a little silent coughing stopped the laughing and shouting in the room as all the heads, except the one of Jack that was still hanging from the chair, turned toward the source. A slow little blond guy made his way to his usual chair pushed near the kitchen counter to pour himself a glass of water that he drank slowly, almost choking on it while coughing at the same time. The rest of the kitchen's population, except the sloppy Jack again, looked at each other after getting sigh of the drowsy Sandy. Then the Australian turned around, leaning an arm on the back of his chair:

"Ye alright mate?" asked Aster concerned.

The little guy turned around. He looked almost as zombified than Jack, except that it wasn't for the same reason. He was pale except for his cheeks and nose that were a deep red, he looked drowsy, more than usually. It's like if someone had run over him with a truck. It was so hot yet he was wearing a scarf and long clothes. Ana was dropped down and she went to the blonde to put a hand on his forehead, which he leaned in closing his eyes.

"Holy wisdom tooth!" swore Ana putting both her hands on his cheeks, "he's really hot. He must be sick."

"How could it have happened?" asked Nick who was sure that we could only catch a cold in winter.

"Really?" retorted Pitch closing his book, sure that he would definitely not be able to continue his studying, "You clearly know nothing to humans. Sandy is used of working by night for centuries, and now he must accustom himself to living in daylight. Because of that, he must feel very tired, especially right now with all those exams coming up. So, his immune system must be weak and he caught a flu."

"Seems legit", answered Aster.

"He should rest", said Nick, concerned about the health of his old friend.

Sandy took out with his free hand, the other still holding his glass of water, hi cell to type slowly but surely his answer.

"_Would love to…but can't…we have an exam today__._"

"Ok then", replied Ana, "but when we're finished with this one, I'm going to take care of you here, since I'm the only one who got everything memorized", she continued with a proud smile. Clearly those exams were not doing any good to her modesty.

Sandy nodded, not refusing the opportunity of someone nursing him. After this little intermission, everyone got ready to leave for school when Aster remembered he had forgotten something in the kitchen. Jack was still at the same place that he first crashed. Rolling his eyes, the Australian got a hold of the larva sweating to death, put him on his back and they were all off to school.

* * *

"THANK YOU WINTER GOD FOR PUTTING AIR CONDITIONNING IN SCHOOLS!" loudly expressed the guardian of fun.

There he was in the middle of the corridor his arms open in cross like if he was doing a prayer to the good lord. Everybody who was present in the locker's alley looked at him like he was some kind of weirdo, but they weren't surprised to see the prankster being weird. After all, he was always the one defying the authority of the teachers and the one not wearing shoes in class. The exam morning had been okay for him. He almost slept on his exam sheet but was always brought back by Tooth, who was sitting behind him, that was kicking the back of his chair. He would have to thank her later for keeping his awake. For the moment, she had to go ask a question for the upcoming math exam to the teacher, so he proposed her to go and check on Sandy who was struggling himself to stay conscious while getting his mathematical manual from his own locker. His headache wasn't getting any better. With luck he had been able to go through the exam without any big trouble. Looking at the little man struggling, Jack took out his water bottle and gave it to him.

"Here you go buddy."

The blond thanked him from the head, sipping some water to ease his headache. The brown haired teen putting an arm around his shoulder to guide the sick Sandy out of the lockers, but this gesture caught the sight of a familiar group.

"Well well, it seems that someone will take the opportunity of a sick guy to have his way with him."

At this remark, Jack stopped, sighing. This has been happening to him for a good month and a half because of the actions related to a certain Australian. He didn't even wanted to know who was telling those words, but Sandy knew all too well from who it was coming from. He turned around with Jack to meet a group of girls leaded by a blonde one. Now that he was sick, he was a bit more irritable. He thought that they would finally leave them alone, but it seemed that now that he was vulnerable, they were taking their revenge.

"What? Because if girls hug each others it's just normal, but a guy doing the same with an other one just to help him it must implies that were gay?" asked Jack a bit off from the assumption.

"Well you have a reputation, and clearly you could take easily advantage of this midget. Where were you going? Suck it off in the bathrooms?" the leader laughed followed by her friends.

This was going way too far for Jack who was impulsive. He couldn't just leave those girls laugh of his sick friend because of his height. Jack could endure mockeries for he was the school's clown, but that last remark was just disgusting. He was about to knock some senses into those girls, but he was cut short by a flash of colour that grabbed the blond girl to knock her against the lockers. Ana had come to their rescue, seeming really mad. The chimera inside her had resurfaced. Her purple eyes flamed with rage as her hands were fisted in the camisole of the blond one, lifting her a bit from the ground.

"Now you listen to me pretty girl! That you get on my back is one thing, but that you start as well to get on the ones of my friends, now you've just crossed the forbidden line. If I ever see you again near us, speak of us or threaten us, I swear to Manny that I will punch all of those pretty barbed teeth out of your freaking mouth! Am I clear?!"

Jessica was frozen on place. Actually she was terrified. The roles were exchanged, and Ana took a bit of pleasure in being the feared one; not that she would make an habit out of it, but it was satisfying to see that she finally had the upper hand. No receiving any response, the Indian shook violently the girl once to make her react.

"I said: AM-I-CLEAR?!"

"Y-yes mam", she replied almost inaudible.

"Good", Ana said pushing her against her group of friend that were almost as surprised as Jack and Sandy, "Now SCRAM!"

And they did. They took no time to get away from their new threat. The remaining guys were both in state of shock to see their beloved Ana so sweet and innocent being this angry warrior of the justice. After they had assimilated what had just happened, they both applauded their saviour.

"Wow", commented Jack, "I didn't know you had that much rage inside of you."

"Well", the girl breathed, "it was good."

Jack laughed with her, happy to see the girl that saved him twice today. Sandy just showed her his thumbs up in thanks. He was really proud that she had finally stood up. After a long month and a half of taking those mockeries, she had finally found her inner guardian that had been sleeping for all this time. It had been hard, but now it was over. He was finally getting back the Ana he once knew: The fearsome fairy queen that was never giving up on her important task. He had been afraid that their student life would change all of them. Now that they knew more and more about the real life those children were growing in, Sandy had feared that they could never go back to the cheerful guardians bringing joy, hope and dreams to the children of the world. But what the former Sandman had discovered was that even if children were growing up and stopped believing in the guardians, they would remember that it has been part of their childhood, that it has been a good memory, and that they would later pass this belief on to the next generation. They knew that teens didn't believe in those stories anymore because the guardians were the folklore created for the children, not the adult. Adult had their own belief, and it was clear that the guardians were the ones of childhood.

* * *

The house was a big no for studies. He noticed it this morning when he was trying to do some revision for the upcoming exams. Everybody was so noisy, except for the two persons that were less hitting on his nerves. He almost thanked Manny for making Sandy sick, though he doubted that it was his fault, but it was still satisfying to see his nemesis so down. Then there was this living wreck that looked almost as if he couldn't walk normally outside anymore. The Boogeyman was eager to him react to the temperature of middle July. Maybe at that moment he could strike…Nah! It was still too early, and anyway, he didn't find a way yet to get his powers back. That thought led him to think about what had happened two weeks earlier with Seraphina. He was sure that he recognised this feeling. Usually, it was him who would look people with deep haunting amber eyes, waiting for the good moment to strike fear into them. Him who didn't have be seen that we knew someone was there watching our every move. It was a living shadow that he had once been. But how was it possible? They were lurking where they wanted without any master. If only he could recall the day when he was born as the Nightmare King, he could have understood where they were coming from. But all he knew now was that Fearlings were scouting the area and could take anyone of the guardians as a target. Not that he particularly cared, but if someone became their new leader instead of him, there would be no way he could get that magic back.

The former dark lord sighed. Even in the library he couldn't calm himself to study. His mind was too obsessed with this paranormal event that he couldn't think of anything else. He had to put his hands on those supposed Fearlings before the others begin to notice the activities. It would be his only chance to double the guardians in the race against time, and he will not miss it. With that last thinking, he close his book, getting up while putting his things in his messenger bag, and exited the library. He rubbed his forehead with his skinny fingers, trying to ease his mind as he made his was out of the school. It was about midday. There were students here and there; some had exams in afternoon, while other were studying or going back home because they had nothing more after lunchtime. It was the case of Pitch and the other guardians. The slender teen didn't want to go back at the house for the moment and hear all the fuss about Sandy being sick or the two other winter freaks complaining about the weather. Though, even if he wasn't complaining, the Nightmare King was also against the weather. It was way too sunny for his taste.

Suddenly, a pair of arms rolled themselves around the tall thin teen. Pitch already annoyed by the heat wave didn't have to endure the one of another person. He turned his head to meet with emerald eyes.

"Did you miss me?" asked Seraphina with a smile wearing her usual gothic apparel, not look to be bothered by the hot temperature.

"Would it be rude to say no?" answered Pitch with a monotone voice.

"It would be if I knew you weren't joking", smile the smaller one still keeping her arms around the taller one, but moving in front of him instead.

"Would you be kind enough to let me go", asked the Boogeyman irritated, "It's already hot with just me, I don't need you."

"Heeeey mister grumpy gills", she said poking his nose, "When life's get you down you know what you gonna do? Just keep swimming, just keep swimming", she happily sang.

"I have the feeling you would get along with the fairy", muttered Pitch.

"Huh?"

"Nothing. Let's just go somewhere with some shadow, I hate the sun."

"Good idea", she answered joyfully, hugging the taller teen closer, making him choke a bit on his lack of breath, "I know just the place. There's a café not too far from the park that serves excellent Europa Sodas."

"Look, I don't feel lik-"

"Of course you do! Come on!" she replied dragging him by force to spend some quality time together, again.

* * *

Aster was the last one to get home, if we didn't count Pitch. He had to admit that inside the house it was really hot. Because of this, Sandy had decided to move from his room, which was in the attic where temperatures were surely making the thermometer detonate, to the couch in the living room to have a little nap. Ana was nursing him, putting a cold wet cloth on his forehead and taking his temperature to see if he was getting any better. There's was nothing abnormal with this situation: Sandy was dozing off and the only girl of the house was doing the mother hen. What he did find funny was the fact that the person with his head in the freezer was not the winter mischief. Nick had open both doors from the fridge, letting his body get the refresh it needed. He would have thought that Jack would be the first one to lock himself in the fridge. Weird. Aster got his shoes off, walking to the sofa to see how the former sandman was keeping up.

"So", he started, "How's tha little warrior?"

"He's at 38 degrees", answered Ana looking at the thermometer, "he's still doing a little of a fever, but it's nothing too serious. With some rest and good food, he'll be back in no time", she finished as she stood up to go fetch a glass of water for the sick teen.

"Nick!" she scolded, "would you get out of the fridge? We're trying to keep our food fresh, not you!"

"Yeah", laughed a bit Aster looking at them, "ye could at least let the place for frostbite."

"I was there first! He went to look for other cold place in house."

"Alright, alright", said the Australian lifting his hands in defence, "if ya're looking for me, ah'll be studying downstairs."

With that, he left the trio upstairs, going in his cool environment. He found himself lucky to have his room in the basement. It was a good temperature, but it was lacking of light unfortunately. He entered his room, closing the door behind him to block the shouting from upstairs. Yup! Sandy must be really sick to be able to sleep with those two arguing. Throwing his school bag on the floor, Aster turned around to meet up with an intruder sleeping in his bed. He almost cried out in surprise, but restrained it when he recognized the individual. So that was where Jack had found his happy place. He had to admit that it was cooler her than in his room, but it was the bedroom of Aster. He could have asked before doing so and freely sleep in his bed. The Aussie sighed, passing his right hand in his hair, the other resting on his hip. What should he do? Kick him out, or let him stay where he was?

Finally, he decided to let him stay. Jack wasn't doing anything wrong, and beside, he was more silent (for once) than the two others upstairs. The Aussie was almost tempted to propose to Sandy to come down with them. It felt a bit weird to see the other so calm and peaceful, like nothing could disturb his deep slumber. Aster sat on the edge of his bed, looking at Jack who was still sweating, but less than this morning, a little fear began to grow in him. Was Jack really just hyper sensitive to the hot temperature, or did he kept some spark of magic? Something inside him hoped that it was just sensitivity, he didn't want the other to melt down in front of him. But, if it was indeed the bit of magic that was left, that meant they had a chance to go back to the way they were. For the former Easter Bunny who hoped he would never see the day he would have to shave, it way taking way too much time for his taste for the solution to come. What on earth was MiM doing?

* * *

**DONE AND REDONE!**

**Sorry it took longer, but when I first wrote the chapter, I found it so dull that I wanted to redo it to offer you something a bit more…crunchy, if I can say XD**

**If you are wondering in what strange dialect Ana is singing at the beginning of the chapter, it's in french. It's coming from the song "Soleil soleil" of Nana Mouskouri. And while I'm thinking about it, the title is also in french. It's the title of a Quebec song (french province of Canada) sang by Charles Dubé if you want to hear it.**

**I read a new fict not so long ago, and I love how the author was writing Aster's accent, so I tried to do the same. Hope I did well and you're not struggling your life to try to understand what I wrote XD**

**The degrees are in Celsius because where I live it's with this that we tell the outside temperature. Fahrenheit is for water and food.**

**I'm becoming a bit mental today, too much things happened, some good and bad news. So I'll leave you with this wonderful chapter that I like pretty much, and I'll come up with the next one next week. Stay tune~**

**Thank you for reading and all your wonderful comment that I read with such delight. Keep on writing to me, it gives me the feeling that you like what I do. ^^**

**PS: A guest asked me in the last chapter who was the author for the books "Guardians of Childhood". Well it is none other than the author and writer of the movie: William Joyce. Good read mate! Hope it helped you.**


	10. Let's do the time warp again

August. The eighth month of the year where temperature is as hot as in July in the early weeks, but gets colder as it gets closer to September. The streets crowded by tourists and the terrace of restaurants full at every time of the day. This summer was a particularly hot and sunny one. There has been no rain since the end of school, to the great despair of the winter spirits. Both of them had enough of this temperature, always complaining. Maybe complaining was a wrong choice of words for Jack's situation. After all, nobody had really seen him since the hot wave had started. For the entire month, he had tried to not go outside as much as possible, he had occupied the bathroom for hours taking cold bath and refusing to come out until he was forced out. He event changed the deal he had with Aster that they made the night of the school dance. Jack would erase from his memory the tab of ice cream, if he would exchange of bedroom with Aster, only for summer that is. This last one had notice how hard it was for the winter mischief to just live in this hot weather and he wasn't about to let his good friend dry out for the rest of the summer. So Jack had stayed locked up in his room all day long until night was out. That guy really was like Pitch thought the guardians. Pitch on the opposite, who was also nowhere to be seen, was out all day, even a big part of the night. The others all suspected that he had a date with his girlfriend, who were surprised by this turn of event but thought that it was good that the evil Nightmare King was getting more human as the days went by.

Being humans. Nick wasn't really afraid to become one, but he had to say that his workshop was missing him. The days he spent planning the next Christmas, the ice sculptures he was making in hi free time, the new toys that he created, the elves scattered in every corners and almost stepping on one. And of course, how could he not miss his fellow co-workers, the loyal yetis that worked hard with him, day and night, to achieve the perfect holiday. Now they were all alone, with no boss to tell them what to do. Anxiety took the guardian of wonder. At this time of the year, half of the toys were already made. Nick had no way to contact his workers, no way to tell them what to do, how to get things working until he would come back…no way to know if they were alright. Yetis were smart. They would be able to get things going until the boss would come back. But still, it wasn't the same without their Nicholas St. North who knew exactly what to create to make a perfect Christmas gift. Time was running short. Who would deliver the gifts in December? What would become of his holiday if he couldn't be Santa Claus anymore? Now that Nick had only that to do, with no school to get in the way of his mind, he couldn't get that thought out and was getting day by day more nervous. Manny was taking too much time to find his solution. It was a wonder if Ana had still believers. The poor girl did not have a lucky year. Nick knew that even if she was always smiling and having fun, she was stressed. Her fairies knew what to do, but they were all alone, they need their queen. They all knew that each night she would check on her teeth if there wasn't one that was about to fall, which was always resulting negative, and that every morning, she would check under her pillow to see if one of her fairies would have find her, which ended the same way as the teeth. Aster was worried too, but never let it show. He was a though guy with nerves of steal. The guardian of hope had got himself occupied to not think about their big problem. The only persons that Nick didn't know how they were feeling were Jack and Sandy. They've been hanging out with each other a lot at school, and never had they shown weaknesses about the matter. No one knew if it was bugging them or if they could live in those bodies forever. Along with Pitch, those two were the mysteries of the house.

The bearded guardian couldn't stand it anymore; he had to find a way to get everybody back to normal. In his young days several centuries ago, when he was only a ruffian and the apprentice of a great wizard, he had been able to change humans turned to stone back into their former form…only a lot smaller. If he had been able to do a magic transformation once, surely he could do it again. The only problem was that he had no wizard with whom he could discuss of this matter. Hell, he couldn't even contact the Man in Moon. He also doubted that magic would still work in this era. Wizards weren't part of the word anymore, or if they were, they were really well hidden. He knew that the first person who would have to change back was Sandy. He was the strongest of all of the guardians. With his dream sand, he could assure that the children of the world still believed in the guardians. Even if it wasn't the guardian of dream that was getting his powers back first, as long as there was someone who could check on the situations, who could watch over the children, who could still give hope to the other guardians that it was possible to get their powers back, Nick would be happy. For now, he just wished that a solution would come knocking at the door, and fast.

* * *

Peace and quiet was the perfect setting for a creative mind. At least, it was a good set-up for Aster who decided to the public park to sketch some of Mother Nature's beauty. He had discovered last spring that city workers were preparing the ground for the floral season coming up, and now that it was here, he wouldn't miss the chance to perfect his drawing skills. He passed most of his days out there sketching in the park without any noise other than the wind blowing through the leafs and the families playing not too far from his spot. This activity was relaxing him, and also made him forgot the dreadful situation that he couldn't get out of his mind. For now, he was doing perfectly fine. Usually he started working on his eggs just at the beginning of March since he was dealing with perishable. But it's already been four months since they transformed, and no news from MiM. The Aussie had to channel all of his inner taï chi to stay calm and cross his finger in hope that their grand leader would find a solution. So he was sitting in front of mixed flower plantations, his back to the sun to get as more light as possible on his sketchbook, drawing what he was most skilled at. Out of nowhere, a shadow came casting onto the work of the Australian who shot his head up to see a curious face starring at him.

"WAH!" screamed Aster who jumped a bit landing on his side took by surprise.

"Ha ha ha", laughed the intruder, "sorry to have disturbed you."

"Nah", replied the Aussie sitting back right looking at the blond girl that appeared from nowhere, "Ye just surprised me sheila. Whut are ye doin' here?"

"Well it is a public park if I recall", she laughed at Aster's remark, " I was walking back from my job when I noticed a familiar shape sitting among the flowers. It's nice to see you again", she said smiling with some of her long blond locks in front of her green eyes.

The tattooed teen recognized the girl from the school dance. He hadn't had any chances to speak with her again because of the exams. He had dance with her after this pretty girl had asked him nicely. After that, they just sat beside a window, talking about comics and anime, the conversation most of it animated by the girl. If he recalled, she told him that her name was Sophie. He hadn't seen her in any of his class. Maybe she was in a lower grade. For him, it didn't matter how old she was. He had fun with her and that was it.

"Yeah", he said to her with a smile, "Ah'm glad ta see ye too."

"Can I look?" she asked pointing the sketchbook.

"Hum…sure", answered Aster giving it to her, "but it's not finished yet so…"

She took the sketchbook and crouch down to his level. Her eyes were scanning the papers while Aster took note of what she was wearing. It's like if he had spilled all of his paint on her dress for it was a rainbow fashion. All those colours mixed up, her clothes just screamed artist or weirdo. The Australian found it special because he was used to strange and colourful things. She was wearing a green t-shirt with strange characters decorating it with a loosed red tie towered by a metal cross necklace. On her arms were countless numbers of bracelets and arm band of all kind, hands covered with fingerless striped gloves black and pink on her right hand and pink netted one. She had blue jeans shorts hold up by a rainbow-striped belt with all sorts of gizmos hanging to it like little characters, mini plushies and chains. White shoes covered by loosen high socks, each leg of a different colour. The final touches brought by flashy goggles on the top of her head and of course her trademark that was following her everywhere: her winged backpack. Aster was just amazed that she had no shame in walking in public with those. He admired her for that, not taking care of others comments on what she was really.

"Wow", she finally commented after going through all of his drawings, "you're so talented. I wish I could draw like this."

" Ye could", he replied taking his book back, "Ah've spent many years drawing, so it's normal that now ah'm a pro", avoiding saying the fact that he's been doing this for millenniums.

"Someday I'll be able to draw like you and publish my own manga", she told him both looking in each other emerald eyes.

"Then ah'll be tha first one ta read it", he said with a peaceful smile, "Ah like yar clothes. Got a lot of colours in tham."

"Thanks! It's called Decora", answered Sophie, happy to receive a positive comment on her style, "it's a Japanese fashion."

"It's suits ya well", said Aster, touching to the bracelets she had on her arms.

"You're so nice. It's really too bad that you're gay."

"Wait what?" said Aster in surprise, looking at her weirdly.

"Well yeah. Aren't you going out with this prankster in the same grade as you?"

"Wha- No!" he defended himself, "it was only an excuse for all tha girls of mah class ta leave me alone. Ah said without Jack's permission that he asked meh ta go with 'im at tha dance, but we're not a couple. We're just good friends sharing a house, that's all", he explained to the girl who was now understanding where all this was coming from.

"Oooooh! That's why everybody thinks you guys are gay", she replied laughing, "that's why school is a pain. People judge you with the first impression without know you. But I guess that it is just a reflection of what society really is."

Aster looked at her. She seemed to know what she was talking about, who wouldn't dress like that. He couldn't stop feeling sorry for her. It was too bad that people were getting the wrong impression of whom she was. She was the only girl aside from Ana that he liked to spend his time with. Even if she had a lot of things on her, he didn't see her as superficial like all those chix that were running after him. He considered her more like special.

"Where are you from?" she asked bringing him back to reality.

"What", he asked rhetorically snapping out of his mind, "Ah'm from Australia. Got 'ere not too long ago. Ah've came here with my…hum…correspondents. They said they wanted ta come study in Canada like me, so we're livin' in tha same house."

"You're so lucky", she said, sitting down in the grass next to Aster, tired of crouching, "I wish that someday I will do that too."

"Ya're from here?" asked Aster.

"No", she answered, "I'm from the United States. I used to live in a small town call Burgess with my older brother and my parents. We've moved here some years ago."

That last phrase froze Aster. His mind was slowly piecing up the puzzle. He was pretty sure that the Sophie he was talking to was the same that he spent Easter painting eggs with. But how was it possible? It was only months ago and she was no more than five years old at least. How could he be talking to the same one at least ten years older? He had to make sure he was thinking wrong. He wanted to think wrong!

"Hum…Sophie", he started a bit nervous, "Ah was wondering since ya're very special. Do ya…still believe in tha Easter Bunny?"

"Is that to make fun of me", she asked laughing a bit.

"No! Not at all! It's just 'cause ah'm curious."

"Ok then", she answered kindly, "Since it's you, I'll be honest. Yes I do. Because when I was young, I saw him. Everybody told me that it was just a dream and that I had a vivid imagination, but I don't believe it. He was just too real for it to just be dream. He was tall, all fluffy…and kind. Funny thing is you look a bit like him. Maybe that's why I like you so much", she finished wrapping her arms around her knees, putting her head on top of it with this childish smile that the former Easter Bunny recognized automatically.

His mind didn't know what to choose between being happy that she still believed in him, and the fact that the guardians had a serious problem. MiM hadn't been honest with them. Not only had they been transform into humans, but also travel through time, or something like this. He had to report this to the others and fast. Aster took all of his tools to put them back in his bag, trying to make an excuse on the why he had to run.

"Ah'm sorry", he said standing up a bit clumsy, "Ah need ta go. Ah forgot ah was tha one…hum…doin' tonight's diner."

"Oh", she answered standing up, "I'll walk with you then."

Aster couldn't say no. Even if he was in a hurry, it would be rude to shove her off and run away. So he accepted. On their way, they had the time to talk more about the Easter event that happened years ago, and how everybody else she knew had stop believing after the guardians never showed up ever again. The Australian, who mentally fought to stay calm and put, was controlling his anxiety learning this news. Was the problem this serious? Had the guardians just disappeared from peoples believes? That now, they were only myth and legends told to the kids to make them dream.

Arriving at his house, Aster bid farewell to the youngest.

"Well…see ya soon."

"Wait", she stopped him, "I would really like to see you again. Especially that now I know where you live, but can we exchange phone number?"

There again, Aster couldn't refuse. After all, she was his favourite believer that was still hoping to see him in his glorious form again. He couldn't refuse anything to the youngest, so they exchanged their phone numbers. Her giving him a hug before walking away, waving a goodbye. As soon as she was gone, Aster stormed inside the house to make jump Nick and Sandy that were in the living room.

"We've a problem mates!"

* * *

"We travelled through time?!" asked Ana shocked.

Everybody, except Pitch who was still missing like always, had come out from their hiding places to come learn the bad news, joining Aster in the living room.

"Ah think so", answered Aster trying to control his stress.

"And how did you came up with this thinking?" asked Nick.

"Ah…Ah met with Sophie", he finally said, "but she's at tha same school that we attend. She's at least fourteen."

Everyone was even more shock than before. Their faces were expressing the anguish that was gradually building up inside them. But they were all silent, like if they were afraid that they would disappear if someone opened his mouth. After some minutes, Nick was the one to break the ice:

"So we would have travel ten years later?"

"Or slept fo' ten years", replied the Australian, "Ah don't know what happened. Tha fact is that we're in much more trouble than we think we are."

"Manny hasn't told us everything I see", thought out loud the Russian, crossing his arms on his chest, "I wonder what happened for all these years."

"I'll tell you what happened", finally said Jack, looking at no one, his tone getting dangerously upset, "I've wasted 300 years forgotten by all, and finally I get some kids believing in me to just get it snatch away in a matter of weeks."

"Jack", began Nick trying to calm the winter mischief down, "we know that it is hard for you-"

"No you don't!" cut Jack, shooting up his head in the direction of Nick. "None of you understand! Why should I care now?"

"Jack", Ana said trying to do the same as the guardian of wonder, "We'll find a solution."

"No! You know what?" Jack said standing up, "from now on, I don't care about turning back into a spirit. Do what you want, I'm happy with what I have now!"

"Jack", Aster attempted his last try to get Jack to sit down and think rationally.

"JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!" he answered, walking back to his lair in the basement.

The room just got silent as a violent shutting door sound was heard. The rest of the guardians just looked at each other, Sandy sighing at this awkward moment before tapping on Nick's leg. This last one looked at Sandy that mimicked him that he should maybe go talk to Jack to settle some things. The Russian nodded, getting up with a sigh.

"You try to find a way to contact Manny. We know that he has the power to travel through time, so he must have some answers about the side effect of his accident", began Nick giving the orders to the three remaining, "I'll go and have a talk with Jack."

They all nodded, and with that, Nick was off to try and knock some senses in Jack, or at least try to discover what this young one was really feeling inside.

* * *

Unfair? He could say that. Jack was really mad about this problem, but something inside was telling him that maybe it was better if he stayed human and live a normal life again. Back then he could have just died, it would have done the same thing. But no, MiM saw some potential in him and decided to bring him back into the winter spirit Jack Frost. To make him wonder for centuries around the globe, discovering all alone his powers and officially becoming the prankster that no one really paid attention to. The guardian of fun just thought of it as a waste of time, with a goal that in the end was just crushed by an accident caused by the same one that brought him back from the dead. Maybe he should have followed Pitch. After all, with his help, the Nightmare King would have succeeded and Jack would have believers, more than he could imagine…frighten believers. This is not what he would have wanted. All he wanted was to be notice, to have someone caring for him, to just touch him. A contact was all he ever wanted, someone to talk to, instead of speaking to a big shining rock in the sky that spoke to him only once to give him a minimal information. Everything was so messed up in his mind. Jack buried his face in his pillow, lying on his front on the bed trying to sort his ideas out. A knock on the door distracted him.

"For the last time, leave me alone!" shouted Jack.

The person behind the door ignored this last phrase as he made his way inside the room, closing the door behind him. There was a shift of weight on the mattress making Jack levelled up a bit. Jack automatically knew who it was. The only one that he considered like a father, the one that was the words of wisdom but always being the sympathetic jolly man that always knew what to tell the younger one.

"Jack", started Nick, "I guess it must be hard for you to have some much changes in your life. But you should try to see the good side of our situation."

"Oh I do", replied Jack, not lifting his head from the pillow, glaring in the nothingness, "I'm just…really angry that I have nothing to say about it. Like I never chose to become a spirit like you guys. I never chose to become a guardian, it was imposed to me and I thought that finally, if I did accept, I would finally stop being invisible to everyone. But then all of this…for nothing?"

"I don't know who you were in your past life Jack, but now, you have a second chance. With this opportunity, you will be able to make a choice whether you like being human or you prefer being a guardian."

Jack lifted his head, turning a bit toward his elder with a confused face.

"You really…let me choose?"

"Why not" answered the Russian putting his hands on his laps, "It is your life, not ours. We cannot impose you something that goes against your wills. This is why we are big family: we care for each others and hope that we are doing good decisions."

"I…I don't know what to say", said Jack sitting up legs crossed.

"All I want for you is to be happy with who you are", replied Nick putting his meaty hands on the shoulders of the youngest. "I want you to keep your centre whoever you decide to be."

"Now I feel a bit embarrassed", said Jack with a weak smile, looking somewhere else, "I've created so much fuss about me, when you guys are in much more trouble than I am."

"Do not worry about that", replied Nick giving a strong tap on Jack's back, "everything will be fine. I feel it…in my belly."

That last comment made Jack laugh. It was true that he still had a choice. Until he made a choice, the winter spirit would have to help his friends getting their powers back. So much children didn't get the presence of the guardians for a decade, there would have to work so hard to catch up with their late work. Jack guessed that the mini fairies, the yetis and the egg sentinels were able to do a minimum of work by themselves, but they all needed their bosses back. The only one that didn't have anybody to help him was Sandy. Kids must have been doing dreamless night since he was gone, but it didn't seem to bug the guardian of dream that much. As long as there were no nightmares to go against it, Sandy had nothing to worry. Either way, Jack had to be there for his friends, for his family. They needed him so much and he would fulfil this task.

* * *

Even if he didn't really remember his transformation, Pitch knew at least what were the Fearlings capable of. He knew that even in the day, they were lurking in the shadows, waiting for the perfect moment to strikes one's dreams. They were powerful creatures that could regain control of the weak mind of their leader when he was himself afraid. All summer he had tried to see those Fearlings again, going to the same spot he noticed their presence the first time. He always got negative responses. No one was there. Last time he had felt those Nightmares, it was in May at the dance when he was with…It suddenly stroke him. He knew she was too good to be true. He had felt a familiar feeling when he was spending his time with her. He had to know the truth.

It was about 9 pm. Pitch had contacted Seraphina to aske her to come and meet him at the same spot they spent their evening four months ago. Pitch had arrived much earlier to see if there would be some changes when she would arrive. As soon as he noticed a shape walking toward him, he could feel this sensation again. This feeling of someone watching you, he remembered all too well now. That would mean that this Seraphina with whom he had passed most of his time, was not the one she claimed to be. He stood up from the bench when she arrived all smiling in front of him.

"Were you nostalgic?" she asked like she didn't know anything.

"Don't play dumb with me", he answered coldly, "I know all too well what you are."

"What do you mean?" she asked again with the same tone, looking at him strangely.

"You perfectly know what I mean", he said a bit angrier, "You thought that I would not notice the evidences? That I would go on with this pathetic life without caring about getting my powers back?"

"Pitch", she said nervously, "you're beginning to scare me."

"That's ironic", he answered, "Since you're the one who should scare others. But I guess you will always be afraid of your master."

"What? My master?" asked the girl, seeming completely lost and confused.

"You thought that using fragments of my memory and knowing my tastes would make you the perfect disguise? It could have, but I know you too well for you to be a stranger to me Seraphina the Fearling."

There was a long pause. Only the warm wind of August was blowing into the leaves, making the moment more dramatic. Pitch was waiting for her to speak. He wanted to know if he was right. He did know he was right. The one thing he really wanted to be sure was that if this Fearling knew who it really was. The confused face of the girl slowly morphed into a crooked smile.

"I was wondering when you would notice", she said her green eyes turning to amber, "Although I'm a bit surprised you took so much time."

"My goal is to be unnoticed in this world for now", the former Nightmare King answered, "I don't want to make any strange accusation and get stuck at a mental hospital for that."

"Good plan", she answered crossing her arms still smirking.

"Now", commended the Boogeyman, "you will tell me how I get my powers back."

"Are you serious?" said the strange girl before laughing for a good moment, "you think that you're in position to give me orders? If you didn't notice Pitch, it's us that controlled you. We don't have any master. We're an infinite power that will never fall. You're just the vessel. A weak vessel that think he has all of the power. But we are the real masterminds behind this."

"How dare you!" shouted Pitch angrily, "I am your king!"

"Not anymore", replied the want be Seraphina, "You're not enough weak to our taste. We are searching for another user."

"So why were you sticking with me all this time?" asked Pitch very angry, "to mock me?!"

"A bit", she answered, "but it is not our main goal. We know that the other guardians are here. This new life must have chocked them to the point that they have lost hope in getting back to their former selves. It's the perfect moment to strike."

"NO!" said Pitch with an authoritarian tone, "YOU ARE MINE TO CONTROL! I AM THE BOOGEYMAN! YOUR MASTER! YOUR KING!"

"Not anymore!" she answered, " It will be one of your other new friends. We wish you to spend a good life."

Pitch wanted to grab her, but she disappeared into nothingness by melting into strings of black sand, fleeing into the dark woods. This was worse than he ever imagined. He could not control his power anymore, and above all, it didn't want to be control by him. This was not good. He had no choice now. For his sake, he had to talk to the guardians before it was too late.

* * *

**At the beginning of the writing, it was suppose to turn out into a beach chapter. But of course while writing, I got carried away.**

**WARNING! SPOILERS ALERT!**

**So what is that thing about time travel you may ask? After finishing the second volume of "Guardians of Childhood", it popped in my head that the Lunar Lamas have the power to travel through time (along with Bunnymund). So it came to my mind that their problem could be much worse than they ever thought and that they had to find a solution quickly. And I wanted to make Sophie appear in the story since I love this kid. So it was like this that my idea is born, and that I maybe find the solution to how they would go back to their former selves. So I can guaranty you that in not too much chapters, there will be some action and more magic.**

**END OF SPOILERS!**

**I'm really happy on how it's turning out, and most of all of the changes I brought. It would have scrapped my story and I'm happy some of you made me notice it. Only next time, I would like more constructive comment instead of just "you will NOT make bunny and jack hook up. It'll ruin the story" or "Um…a little creep". Because I don't know what you want me to change really, and I appreciate when someone gives me a good critic instead of something that look more like an order than an advise. I'm opened to suggestion, but try to be clear and nice when you tell me please.**

**Thank you for still reading my story. I enjoy your comments.**

**PS: For those who wanted a Jack X Bunny story, I'm thinking of a new story with hints of this shipping. Stay tune.**


	11. Hurtful truth and temptations

Heat! Even more heat! Wasn't the temperature supposed to go down as month went near September? That's what Jack thought, but find out that his predictions were completely false. If it was hot in the house, he didn't even dare to go outside. This time, he had the chance to double Nick in speed to get his place near the refrigerator. All of the frozen vegetables would be his and to no one else. Anyway, everyone was out upon request of Ana who absolutely wanted to go to the swimming pool at least one time in the summer. The guardians having a lot of pressure on their shoulders and tormented thoughts for a couple of months, they decided to change their minds and go refresh themselves. Jack had said big no to this, giving the excuse that he would totally melt on the way to the pool. They all knew how though it was for the winter mischief to survive through this summer that no one asked for more. The real reason was that Jack didn't know how to swim, and since he had been a spirit every liquid he touched became ice, so he never had the time to learn. Water wasn't really his best friend considering the fact the he died because of it, resulting on why he never wanted to learn to swim. So today, it was he and the frozen bags of vegies. Oh dear MiM he was in paradise! But his little date was cut short by a knock on the door. Who in the world was putting an end to his peaceful time by deciding to pay a visit? Jack knew he wasn't expecting anyone. With a lot of effort, he decided to stand up, leaning by the fridge to help himself and bringing one of his friendly freezing bag with him as a hat, flattening his brown hair. A second pack of knocking was made.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming", Jack said arriving at the door, opening it to reveal a short blond teenage girl wearing extravagant clothing. Jack was pretty sure he had seen her somewhere, but where? Maybe she went to the same school as him and the rest of the gang. After a moment, he realized that the girl in question was staring at him. He frowned, leaning on the frame door, not noticing that his frozen peas bag was still on his head, he grew accustomed to it really quickly.

"Can I help you?"

"Oh!" she said in exclamation, getting out of her trance, "Sorry, it's just that you look awfully familiar…and that you have a pea bag on your head", pointing at Jack's head.

"Yeah I know", he answered, "I can't stand heat, so this is my new best friend for the day, and about the 'how familiar I look', it's the same here. Haven't we met somewhere?"

"I guess it would be at school", she said, "Anyway, is Aster here?"

"Nope", answered Jack getting the bag off his head because the vegetables inside were starting to melt, "but you can leave a message, I'll give it to him when he…get…back", slowing down when his eyes noticed the change of face in front of him. It's like if she suddenly realized something very important, like if her life depended on it.

"Are you…oka-"

"IT'S YOU!" she suddenly shouted pointing her finger at Jack's face.

"Yeah, it's me...why is it me?" asked the prankster totally confuse by what was happening.

"It can't be true", she continued, not listening Jack at all, "I mean it's you! You look exactly like him, except for the hair." Then, she took him by the shoulders and started to shake him violently like if doing so would make him answer faster, "Did you bleach it? How is that possible? Are you a ghost? His twin? An alien coming from another dimension?"

"Woh woh woh!" Jack said trying to stop her saying insanities by separating himself from her, "Calm down! You're not even making sens-WOAH!" he wasn't even able to finish that the blond girl put both of her hands on his cheeks and pull him very close to her face. She started to examine every detail of his head, twisting it like if he was only a mannequin.

"You're exactly as I remember", she said letting him go for two seconds, but pulling his head back into a hug, plunging the winter mischief's face into her breast. "This is wonderful! I knew it wasn't a dream!"

Under the pressure of the arms and the deep contact with the girl's boobs, Jack was beginning to suffocate. He tried in vain to separate himself from that crazy girl without hurting her. As his air was running short, he started slapping the sides of her shoulders to warn her that she was killing him slowly. Fortunately, it seemed to wake her up and let him go. As soon as he was out of the deadly grip, the brown haired teen stumbled behind, catching himself on the ground with one hand, the other on his chest waving up and down rapidly. He didn't quite knew if he was out of breath because of the suffocation, or because that girl was creeping him out. While wondering for that and catching his breath, the strange girl crouch down at Jack's level and crossed her green eyes with the lost blue ones, smiling like if her deepest dream had just been fulfilled.

"It's been a while", she began with the nicest tone that seemed to calm Jack a bit as his brain computed that face that he knew he had seen somewhere, "hasn't it…Jack Frost."

It's at that moment that the information uploaded.

* * *

The afternoon was coming to an end, but it didn't stop the sun from giving heat waves. It had been refreshing for the whole group to go spend the day in the fresh water of the public swimming pool. For some hours, the guardians have been able to get away from their problems, but reality was harsh and came back really quickly into their faces as the day went by. The walk back home was in complete silence. Sandy curse in his head for this awkward moment as he wished Jack would have come with them. One of the many benefits of being in company of the winter mischief was that he hates to die the silence. For him, silence equals loneliness, and that is not something that Jack wants to go through again. The little blond guy eyed Ana in hope she would translate his wish for a change of mood. She was down too, always thinking about the fact that she abandoned her little fairies for ten years, and that it was still continuing because they had no way to contact her mini-workers. But she pushed away he frown face as they arrived at their house.

"What do you say I prepare us a nice fruity salad with eggs in it", she proposed turning on her heels to face the other boys.

"Yeah…whatever goes with me", answered Aster who was definitely loosing hope as the days were going by.

It pained Nick to see his old friend in this mood. Aster couldn't loose faith. After all, he was the guardian of hope, and if he couldn't hope anymore, the Russian feared that the former Pooka would loose his centre. Even if the Australian was a big though guy with nerves of steal, inside he was a big sentimental that cared for his believers. They were all he had. Unlike Santa Claus or the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny had no helpers, meaning he had no one with whom he could talk with or rely on if things were going wrong. Because of that, he had built himself an impenetrable shell that only severe cases, like their last Easter to their memories, could destroy the strong shield of hope protecting the guardian.

The Aussie passed Ana to enter their domain, leaving the three others looking at him sadly. Usually when they were home, Jack was doing all he could to cheer up everyone and make them think about something else. The guardian of wonder was happy that his chat with the one of fun had changed his mind. Fully accepting his fate of staying until death a human, Jack had decided to be the distraction of everyone in the house. Not all of them had been human in their past life, and to wake up in a strange body must have been quite shocking. The former winter spirit could understand how disconcerting it was to wake up somewhere you didn't know, but it was far worse to be alone and know nothing. That was why Jack had decided to not let his friends down. He didn't want them to experience what he had been through. So it was a relief to be back home, meaning that the gloomy spirit of Aster would go away in no time since Jack wouldn't wait long before beginning to bug the Australian like always.

They all stepped inside as dark clouds were beginning to cast shadows, covering the sun and threatening to let fall a flood. They all dropped their bags on the floor, getting their shoes off as they proceeded through the house stopping in the kitchen. It was awfully quiet. They would have expected Jack to come and greet them, but no one was in the kitchen or seemed to be in the house. That is until they heard someone climbing up loudly the stairs, like if he was climbing them four by four. When the teen arrived upstairs, they heard a second step noise, but this one faster and shorter.

"INCOMING!" Jack shouted to the others that looked at him weirdly, not really understanding what he meant, until a fuzzy blond tornado arrived behind him but continued her running toward the group. Although, she seemed to have targeted one person in particular and that would be Aster. The Australian hadn't had the time to process what he was seeing that the "thing" made collision with him, slamming him to the ground. The guardian of hope just blinked, registering the pain of his head colliding with the ground, the breath he was trying to get back, and that he had a leech stuck on his torso, hugging him with all of her might. After some time, Aster finally recognized the person sticking to him.

"Sophie?!" he asked lifting a bit his head from the ground to look at her totally glued to him, "Whut are ye doin' here?!"

"Sorry dude", answered Jack, sighing in his failed attempt to avoid the Aussie a rash tackle. He passed his hand on his forehead, continuing in his hair, walking toward the group slowly, "I tried to calm her down when she heard you arrived."

"I'm so happy to see you again Bunny", she said, squeezing more the Australian's chest.

"Hum…Ah'm happy t-wait! What?" asked Aster, his head snapping at the nickname he just got from the teenager, "What did ye just called me?"

"Bunny", she replied lifting her head to let her chin rest on his chest, all-smiling like a child, "It's what you are after all…no?"

All looked up to Jack, wanting answers, the last one just shaking his head in disapproval of what he just witnessed. He then explained to the others that Sophie had come to visit Aster earlier in the afternoon and that she recognized Jack. So, he had no reason to hide the fact that he was, or have been would be a better choice of words, the guardian of fun himself trapped in a human body. After learning that all the persons in this house were actually the spirits she encountered when she was younger, the extrovert teen became completely mad and couldn't wait to see her Easter Bunny again. So when they heard the group arrived, Jack had dash to try and warn them, but was too slow for the blond tornado. They were all surprised that she bought everything that the winter spirit had told her, but now that she was seeing them knowing who they really were, it wasn't hard to see the similarities.

"You have no idea how happy I am to have you back", Sophie broke the silence by telling her joy to Aster who was still in her embrace, "I thought you abandoned me at first when you never came back at Easter."

A sharp pain stuck the Australian in his chest. Was it guilt for not being there to one of his most loyal believers, the one he had a soft spot for? It was also anger. Anger toward the one responsible for this situation: Man in Moon. If he had left Pitch where he belongs, this would have never occurred. It was true that Aster has been angry at Pitch at first, blaming everything on him since it was really easy to do so. But after thinking about it, it was Manny's fault and now it seemed that he didn't cared about their situations. After so many attempts to contact him, he never answered or manifested himself, and already four months have past. The faith of the guardian was fading slowly as time went by.

"…but I told myself that I wasn't the only child in the world you had to take care of", continued Sophie. The Australian didn't even know if she had spoken when he was thinking. "I just hoped that one day you would come back. And now you're in front of me…or more, I'm on you", she laughed.

"That's great", said Aster finding that everything was going really fast for his brain to assimilate everything, "but can Ah stand back normally please?"

Sophie just had told roll off from him, landing at the feet of Nick who helped her on her feet, leaving the time to the Aussie to sit up, rubbing his head that had a harsh landing. They all started chatting, most of it said by the youngest teen girl who was amazed to see the guardians so young, and alive. Only Sandy was left with a thinking that was bugging him. He started to type on his phone a question for Sophie. He went to her and showed the screen of his cell phone.

"_Earlier you said that Bunny never appeared again for Easter, does that mean that the Holiday never happened again?_"

"Well, yes, Easter still exist", she answered, bringing a smile on the other's faces, but were broke with the follow of her reply, "But since people didn't wanted that the event of ten years ago to occur again, the adults decided to take the holiday more seriously. They were hiding the eggs, telling the kids that it was the Easter bunny, but everybody knew who were really hiding the eggs."

All gaze felt upon the Australian who looked completely demolished. He was no more than a Fable to amuse kids now. The mystery behind the Easter Bunny had been broken, and now the children would believe in him until they would be wise enough to see that giant bunnies delivering eggs was a completely childish thought. They would grow up faster, and stop believing earlier, ending in a tradition that would disappear. It took a lot of effort to try and concealed the tears that threatened to flow down his cheeks. Sophie felt the awkward moment settling and looked at Jack who already knew the news, but didn't want to tell the other so that feeling wouldn't strike the group. Unfortunately, Sandy had doubled him and there was nothing Jack could do now to avoid more pain. The prankster stood apart from the others, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, his eyes lost in the nothingness before meeting with the green ones of the youngest teen. It was as if she was asking if she could tell what was going on with the other beliefs. Jack sighed to the thought, but the others would asked at one time or another, so better get on with it as fast as possible. He nodded to the blond girl who then looked at Ana and Nick, biting her bottom lip.

"And…the same thing happened to Christmas and the Tooth Fairy", she said shyly, almost ashamed of her words.

The heads of Nick and Ana shot up to look at Sophie in disbeliefs, their eyes asking for more information, even if it was a hurting truth. She didn't know what to say, until Jack spoke, bringing up his own theory after what Sophie had told him in the afternoon.

"I think that kids never stopped believing in the guardians before", he started, the group now looking at him, "It's just that you wer- are guardians of childhood, so when they were getting out of their kid period, they were considered like non-believers. But think about it. Wasn't it strange for them to see a present appearing under their Christmas tree without them putting it there, or the tooth of their child to just disappear and leave a coin behind? They knew you existed. Unfortunately, that was ten years ago, and you never showed up again. Resulting in the parents taking your place and make up stories of what they remembered."

No one really knew what to say. Sandy was even more silent that he usually was, ironic for him being a mute. Nick had a look on his face as if a Yeti had struck him. Aster was completely destroyed. Ana was on the verge of tears, but managed to choke out a question.

"Does…does that mean that…we…that we", Ana wasn't able to finished her phrase. Jack sighed, never really wanted to spill out the truth that harshly, but he had no choice.

"Yeah", he began sorry, "You-…no. We are now tales. We're useless now."

"NO!" exclaimed Nick with his loud Russian voice, "No such thing as useless! I will find way to go back, even if it take me all life!"

Nick's brave words passed in the butter as no one really reacted to what he had just said. The only person that seemed to be okay with that, but not really believing that it could be possible, was Jack. He had already put a cross on him going back to the spirit world, beside snow was still falling, whether he was there or not. Jack was just an elemental spirit that used the magic of Mother Nature, a bit like Pitch with his Nightmares. Seeing his friends so wrecked pained him, but there was nothing he could do.

* * *

Jack proposed to Sophie to escort her home. It was a good way of fleeing the awkward moment at home. MiM did he hate those situations. As they were walking, the sky was completely obscured with clouds, but there was no rain. The visibility was reduced and a strong cool wind began to blow lifting the hood of Jack on his head. He had long stopped to put it down for the wind always put it back up. For the entire walk, Sophie had said how sorry she was to have made them so sad, but the winter mischief just told her that one day or another, they would have known it. He knew that there would be no way of going back to the way they were, and Manny would stay silent until it would please him to speak up. Jack never put his faith in MiM, he didn't trust him and there was nothing that the Tsar Lunar was doing to make the winter sprite change his mind. First he had let him alone and amnesiac for 300 years, and now he was making suffer the other guardians that had work so hard for him. He was quite mad at the Man in the Moon for his inactivity, or more his silent on his doing, if he was doing something. Sophie noticed the angry look on Jack's face, and decided to cheer him up a bit.

"You know", she said with a smile, "my brother's at home. You should come and see him."

"Jamie?" asked Jack, turning his head toward the girl.

"Yes. I'm sure he would be happy to see you again."

He didn't know if he should be happy to see one of his first believers again, or if it was a bad idea. After all, the kid saw him once, and after that Jack disappeared for ten years. How would he react now? He had to be around twenty years old now. It wasn't for him anymore the fairy tales. Jack stopped in front of the Bennett's house, his head down with his hood over it. He then lifted his gaze to meet the one of Sophie who was a bit clueless. She would have thought that it would make Jack happy to see her big brother again.

"I know I would be happy", started Jack, "but I'm only a fragment of his childhood Sophie. I doubt he would remember me."

"Are you saying that my brother would not remember you, but that I, that only was four years old, was able to recognized you?" she asked with an eyebrow raised. "You're not making any sense Jack. This is my brother we're talking about. The one that always believed that Big Foot, Aliens and the Loch Ness Monster existed. I doubt he would forget you Jack, even if he wanted to."

"Did he ever mentioned me again?" asked the guardian of fun, a bit sad, but slowly cheered up by the other teen.

"In his writing, yes", she answered.

"Writing?"

"Yeah, he's writing stories for a film company. When he was in high school, he began to write stories about his childhood beliefs and sold his ideas to an animation company. Now he's a writer."

"You're joking right?" said Jack, surprised by the turning of events, his face translating all of his feelings.

"Jack", replied Sophie putting her hands on his shoulders, "He's making you live through his stories. A lot of people believe in you now, even if you're not a spirit anymore."

He couldn't believe it. Even after ten years, Jamie had never give up on him, and that was enough for Jack. With only on believer, Jack had become popular without even knowing it. He was so happy that he would have kissed Sophie right there, but he restrained himself of doing so.

"So", she continued, "Do you want to come in?"

"Maybe another time", replied Jack with a little smile, "I need to go cheer up the others. Even if I have accepted my condition, for them, their entire world is crumbling. They need me."

"I understand", she said nodding with a weak smile, "well at least you know where we are living."

"Yeah, I'll come someday and say hello"

They both said their goodbyes and Jack waited for Sophie to get in her house before walking back toward his home. The temperature was really weird that evening. It was like there was a tropical storm. The wind was blowing like crazy, it was darker outside as the day was coming to an end and the clouds were hiding the last rays of the sun. Jack was feeling good for once outside; it wasn't too hot. He was also happy to not have to see the face of the moon that night. Rage was building up inside the winter spirit. Not for him, but for the others who were suffering and didn't understand why it was happening. Jack guessed that Manny was a total jerk for staying this silent. He never knew what Sandy was thinking, but for Aster and Ana, it was clear that they were loosing hope, and fast. That afternoon, their last straw must have been cut, and they would have to make up their mind on what they would have to do next: accept their fate, or sulk until death would follow. He knew Nick would not give up. It was in his nature. So the guardian of wonder would have to work twice as hard to come up with a good idea. Of course, Jack would help him, but he didn't believe too much in the result.

After a moment of walking, Jack felt like he was being followed, like someone was spying on him. He turned around to see, but he was alone in the street. Everybody must have preferred to stay inside by this weather. That was weird. He began to walk again, backward to see if someone was really following him, but nobody. It was creeping him out a bit, so he speeded up. Then he felt it again, but this time it was all around him. He didn't like this feeling, never liked it. He already experienced this once and it was in Pitch's lair when the shadows were surrounding him, where the Boogeyman's words were playing with his mind, where he was alone to feel his sanity flying away. That feeling, he was beginning to sense it again. The same words as the one's of the Nightmare King playing in repeat in his head, but with a different voice. Those voices were full of lust and temptations.

"_Why you?"_ where were they?_ "Why were you chosen?"_ there was no one there…_ "Why did you end up like this?"_…Except the darkness and the shadows._ "Do you want to know Jack?" _It's like if the voices knew what he was thinking, _"Everything you want to know…all the answers…"_ all he was feeling…_ "You want the answers so badly"_, all he ever wanted, answers._ "You want to just fly off"_, yes!_ "You want to make things right"_, YES!_ "He will never accept you"_, was it true?_ "You're looking for a way…we have it"_, it is like they know what to do. _"We do know…all you have to do…is to open your mind to us"_, open his mind? His mind to what? _"To us…the darkness"_, no! He couldn't do that. _"Only for a moment"_, he can't. _"Just a short time"_…_ "Let us breathe your rage and your dark feelings"_…_ "He never believed in you"_, it's true. _"But we understand your pain"_, really? _"We know how it feels to be cast out"_… _"By the same man who left you alone"_, it's awful. _"All those years in the shadows we thought no one else knows how it feels like…but we now see we were wrong"_… _"We don't have to be alone Jack" _Something must be done. _"We can do something, if you accept us, no one will ever feel the same again"_.

The offer was so tempting. It was like if his mind has been taken over by someone else. His hands were clutched against his head, hot sweating dripping down his forehead, breathing fast. There were too much people in his head. He wasn't able to take it anymore. Voices were becoming louder and more insistent, twisting his thoughts to make them bend in their way, to break it enough to be able to penetrate in it. Jack was still young at heart and so confused with the recent events that it would be easy. All he had to do was to let his mind blank for them to enter it. Closing hard his eyes, he repeated to himself:

"Stop it! Stop It! STOP IT!"

His vision began to blur from his head pounding hard. Just like if a fever had struck him. He just wanted to sleep, he wanted the pain away, and he wanted the voices to stop screaming. Conscious was threatening to fly off, but before it happens, someone grabbed him by the arm. The person pressed the brown hair teen again his slender body. This action seemed to chase the darkness away and to silence the voices. But it was as the mind of Jack had run a marathon for the past twenty-four hours, blacking out after the departure of the temptations, leaving the body of Jack limp against his saviour.

Sensing the weight on his person getting heavier, Pitch looked at his rival falling unconscious in his arms. He crouched down to place the prankster against himself so he wouldn't drop him. The Dark Lord had arrived just in time. He knew that the Fearlings didn't want his to be their master again. So if he was near on of their victim, they would leave. Someday, he would be able to get a hold of them again, but he would have to take them by surprise. This time they had flee, but the former Boogeyman had feared that the winter mischief would have been taken over because of his angry feelings. It was true that Jack was an easy target for him being moody for some times. He knew whom he had to watch over from now on. Pitch would not lose to Jack. Cradling the winter spirit in his arms, the former Nightmare King stood up to walk the remaining path toward their house. Now there was no way he could avoid a talk with the guardians. Although, it didn't mean he had to tell all of the truth. It would be a little secret between Jack and him; he would make sure of that.

* * *

**A funny and sad chapter. **

**I had a lot of difficulties to come up with something good. But I think I managed well. I was like: "INSPIRATION NOOOO! COME BAAAACK!" **

**I'm happy that we're finally getting closer to some action. I'm still trying to figure out how I could make Jamie appear. I would like for him to make a little cameo, but I'm not as fond of him as Sophie.**

**Stay tune, because in the following chapter, I intend it to have some action, magic and tragedy. I like to be evil D**

**Thank you for reading~**


	12. The calm before the storm

Silent. That's the only word that came into the mind of Pitch once he entered the house with an unconscious teen in his arms. It was dark, except for the kitchen that was the only lighted place for there was Nick and Sandy "discussing" together on an unknown subject to the Nightmare King. Those two would have to do. At least, they would be the ones that would not cut of his throat before asking question for arriving with an almost lifeless body. He guessed that Ana and Aster were sleeping, even if it was only nine o'clock. When Pitch closed the door behind him, nobody came to meet the duo. The other two guardians must have thought it was only Jack who was coming back from wherever he came from. To be honest, Pitch didn't know he was following Jack all this time. When he sensed the power that the Fearlings were emitting near from the house, he just stormed outside without hesitation, finding a tormented guardian on his way. The dark lord just took a deep breath to sigh just after it, getting all of his courage to face his two most fearless enemies. As the dark teen stepped in the kitchen, he could see Nick speaking about new manners to get in touch with MiM or their helpers, which Sandy answered by writing and drawing on scattered papers on the table. None of them seemed to notice the two former spirits standing obviously not so far from the table. Pitch knew he was sneaky, but now it just looked like they were ignoring him. Rolling his eyes, he thought that even if the world was burning outside they would still be in their bubble. For once, Pitch wanted to be notice, or more had to be. He couldn't catch those Fearlings alone and he didn't want the guardians to just live their life like there was no danger in them getting caught by those nightmares. Of course, he would let the part where he gets his powers back out of discussion. So the slender teen finally took the initiative to clear his throat loudly enough to catch the others' attention feeling that Jack was getting a bit heavy. Both glanced up from their important discussion to look at the two thin teens standing in front of them. The load in Pitch arms seemed to wake them up, and they were in no time to the dark lord's side to help him with his cargo. Nick took care of the unconscious Jack lying him down on the sofa. At first sight, the kid seemed to be all right, nothing serious. With his mind eased on this he turning with an angry look toward the one that brought him, sharing his reaction with Sandy who crossed his arms waiting for an explication.

"Before you accuse me of anything", began Pitch in his defence, totally calm with the situation, "I would like to say that I had nothing to do with his current state."

Nick and Sandy looked at each other, not really buying what the Nightmare King had just said. This resulted in Pitch face palming himself, sighing loudly.

"Do you seriously think that if I had done this I would have brought him back here AND make myself notice by you two?"

He had a point on that. Plus, it wasn't the style of Pitch to do something so obvious. He was more of a plotting person, toying with the mind, playing in the shadows. What had happened with Jack just now was totally out of his league. This seemed to ease the two other guardians whose expressions soften. Even though, Nick looked at Sandy to see if the little guy was sharing his opinion. The last one just nodded, seeing nothing wrong in the behaviour of their nemesis, but he had to stay on his guards. Last time he didn't check his back he got shot by the dark lord.

"Alright Pitch", said the big guy ready to listen to his enemy's point of view, "What happened?"

"Twenty minutes ago", he started, "I sensed something lurking near the neighbourhood. I decided to go out investigate on the matter when I founded Jack standing alone backing to a lamp post, clinging on his head like if he had some sort of headache. When I approached, I could see dark clouds around him and my feelings began to tingle me again. As soon as I got closer to Jack, the smog just dissipated and the boy just felt into my arm unconscious."

Both guardians frowned to the story finding it a bit weird for the human world.

"Dark clouds?" asked the Russian, "living smog? It doesn't make really sense"

It was at that moment that Sandy's mind lit up. He reached the table to write on one of the scattered paper and brought it back to Pitch for him to read out loud:

"_You mean you saw your Fearlings?!_"

"That's right", answered the British.

"But how is that even possible?" asked Nick, curious about the weird phenomenon.

"I don't know", replied Pitch crossing his arms, "they seem to be able to roam around without a master."

Thinking fast, Sandy turned the page around to write a hypothesis, showing it to the two others.

"_Looks like they have a mind on their own, and now that nobody is there to control them, they just do as they please spreading chaos wherever they go._"

"Plausible explanation", replied Pitch to the supposition, "On thing of sure, Jack is not safe alone anymore."

"What should we do then?" asked the Russian teen, seeking wisdom to the two sand masters.

"The Nightmares seem to fear me", noticed Pitch, "but I will not be able to stick with Jack 24/7. That means someone of us must always be with him or he could succumb to the darkness. If I hadn't interfered with them earlier, Jack would not be there anymore…or not be the same."

The two guardians tensed up to the remark. They knew a bit the backstory of Pitch and on how he became the Nightmare King. If pitch hadn't been there that evening, Jack would have result just like Pitch in the Golden Age. Since then, the dark man had never been the same ever again. That last thought got Nick on alert. How could they thrust what Pitch was telling them? He had played in their back for so many times that he could just be doing his old tricks again. The big teen crossed his arms, not wanting to show their nemesis that he was totally naive.

"How can we know you are not lying?" asked Nick drawing the attention of the sand masters. "It is a bit weird that you side with us after you tried to get rid of us. Why not let Jack fall under control of Fearlings?"

"Because I know what they are capable of", answered the Boogeyman coldly.

Nick was actually surprise to see in the dark lord's face so much confidence, but also pain. Maybe they had been cruel to leave him get his mind haunted by his Fearlings. To let them punish him while all he ever wanted was to be believed in. It was not a choice Pitch had made. It had been imposed to him against his wills. Maybe there was a chance to save his soul.

"Beside", continued Pitch, "If I wasn't on your side, I would have just left Jack to his miserable fate."

Once again, the guardian of wonder turned his head to the blond guy who wrote his thoughts on the remaining space of the sheet.

"_Seems legit._"

"Alright Pitch", said Nick turning his gaze back to the Boogeyman, "We will thrust you on this since you are the one that knows best, and that you have proven that you may still have good inside you."

Perfect! Just perfect! It was going even better than he had planned. It was a blessing that transforming into human didn't affect their judgement that much, and Pitch was grateful for that. They were playing right into his hands, like puppets. None of them seemed to doubt him now. It would be easier than he thought. All he had to do now was to wait for the perfect occasion to surprise his Fearlings and be the one to consume the dark power to become once again the ruler of the darkness: the Nightmare King.

* * *

As soon as school started, time went by fast. October was already at the door bringing the cold back along with colours tainting the trees. Days were shorter as well. The night was already engulfing the light at 17:30, so sometimes, students had to walk back to their home in the dark if they had late studying or activities at school. When Pitch knew that Jack wouldn't go back home with the group because of a detention or something else, but mainly detention, the dark lord was staying at the front door, waiting for the prankster to come out. He was willing to wait for hours if it meant keeping his wild powers to himself. In those times of solitude, Pitch was thinking of the damages it would do if Jack had the Nightmare's powers. Would he have black hair and a skin a bit more tainted? His eyes would not be blue but pure amber shining like topaz in the dark. But since he was always a child at heart, would his immature side take over the fun one and create a complete demented spirit. It could be worse if he had to keep his ice power too. Pitch couldn't believe it. He was able to give himself nightmares.

For two months already, Jack had not met the Fearlings again. They were surely waiting to catch him off guard all alone once again. Though it would not happen, not before Pitch or the other two had a brilliant solution. Aster and Ana knew nothing on the matter. Pitch had strongly suggested that they stay in the ignorance for they didn't need over emotional person to get even more stress than they were. Going back to school sure did them good. Instead of mourning in their rooms, they were once again occupied with projects and homework. While at home, they had their goof entertaining them as much as he could to keep them off their gloomy thoughts. Even with all the efforts the prankster was putting, the bedtime was their most fearsome enemy at the moment. All alone, with nothing but their mind tortured by ten years wasted, they were unable to sleep until late at night, and when they were able to, they were plague by nightmares. With all this cumulation of unrefreshing sleep, the mood was only going in a downslope. If two fifth of the group was down, the rest was following. They were all like a big family, and if someone was affected by something it's everyone that was feeling the effects.

On that Saturday in late October, wind had decided to come back and pay a little visit to Jack. They were both missing each other, and even if the winter mischief couldn't feel the company of his partner in crime, he knew he was still there. The cold was back, inviting people to dress in their warm coat to continue their outside activities. It was the case of the guardians that had decided in this fine day to clean their ground full of dead leaves. The yellowish grass wasn't in site anymore; only a red and orange pad was decorating the surrounding of their house. Arriving in Canada a bit earlier than the United States for the cold season, Jack had often seen people do mountains of dead leaves and burn them after, leaving a lovely smell that remembered the campfires. Sometimes, people even baked potatoes wrapped in foil paper in the autumnal fire and eat the vegetable while it was still hot in front of their campfire. Although, even if Jack had plan to do that with his friends, there was a fun part before that he was dying to do for a long time. Every kid was doing it, and seemed he was the guardian of fun he couldn't pass by this opportunity to show the good part of his centre to the others.

After two long hours raking leaves in the cold, Aster began to get irritated. His usual environment being warm and sunny with green leaves and grass everywhere could not possibly like one that was cloudy, cold and wet. Everyone could see clearly in his face that he would rather be inside mourning on his fate than being outside doing something that was completely pointless to him.

"Arg!" the Australian grumbled, "there's just no end te these leaves. Ah don't get why weh need to pick them all up since snow will cover tha ground in a few weeks."

" I see mister sunshine is back with us", mocked Jack leaning on his rake.

"Ah rack off ya bloody show pony!" said the pissed teen to the other.

"Well at least it makes us take some air", said Ana still scraping the ground making a new leaf pile.

"It is great for mind to smell fresh air", commented Nick that had an enormous heap of leaves. "It is rather fun to pass quality time all together", getting a nodded from a smiling Sandy who was helping the jolly teen with his mountain.

"There is nothin' fun in willingly freezing outside while trying ta clean some wet leaves", retort Aster crossing his arms trying to warm himself.

"You're right", replied Jack letting his rack fall on the ground, "There's something more fun to do with those piles."

Without anyone having the time to question his intentions, Jack got himself a boost to jump in the Australian's pile of leaves. He landed on the soft autumn bed, letting leaves fly away, some landing on him. The Aussie saw red at the work that had just been destroyed. It was so…Jack-like.

"Oh yeah thank ya", said sarcastically the guardian of hope, "Ya think it's fun to wreck what ah've been doin' for tha past two hours?"

"Ah come on Kangaroo", said the prankster sitting up in the pile, "learn to have a little fun." With that last sentence, the winter mischief grabbed a fistful of wet leaf and threw them at the Aussie who flinched at the damp contact.

Aster looked back, some red and orange tree residue stuck on his face. Oh he wanted to play that game? Aster would certainly not go down without a fight. The Australian bent down to take the pile Jack had made and threatened to throw it at him. The prankster got off from his leaf bed and hided behind Ana as Aster sent his pack flying toward the duo. The poor girl received the majority of the cargo on her, some stuck in her hair. She looked at Aster who regretted missing his target at the look on the Indian girl's face. Without a warning, the former chimera launched herself on the Aussie, talking him in a leaf pile, trying to "drown" him into the heap. From far, Jack was laughing his ass off, the situation turning better than he expected. Nick was also laughing at the Aussie getting a beating from the girl, but was stopped by a leaf clod thrown at his face. Removing slowly the sticky leaves from his face, he looked around to see who had thrown it. Turned out it was the little blond teen looking at him with a pleased smile. His fun was cut short by a big Russian who grabbed and lifted him in the air, surprising the guardian of dream that clutched the coat of his captor for security. Then, Nick decided to throw Sandy in the same pile as Aster and Ana. He landed on the soft leaf mattress right next to the Australian's head that was eating leaves by force. Ana still sat upon the Aussie, but that last one was finally able to get his face out of the wet substance, spitting out some residue. Sandy couldn't help but silently laugh at the face that Aster was making. This brought Ana to lower tip on the side to see, which made her laugh too, accompanied. Left on his own, Jack had enough of watching the fun without taking part in it. Once again, he dashed:

"MOSH PIT!" he screamed to the top of his lungs, jumping on the groups lying in the leaf pile.

The others couldn't hold their screaming, some of fear and others of anticipation. He landed on the top of the group, making Ana lie on Aster and pushing Sandy back in the pile. Aster got once again his face in the wetness. Although, even with him eating dust, he couldn't repress a laugh. Even Nick joined the group by grabbing a pile of leaves and snowing it on the other four lying in the pile. Their fun continued at least another half hour pushing, throwing leaves and jumping into the heaps. All of their two hours hard work gone in thirty minutes of enjoyed fun. After their good time, they went back to work with light minds. They spent the chores time talking about some old memories they had in their previous life and discussing on traditions that were bringing them happiness.

When darkness started to cast upon the city, a big fire was lightning the garden of the guardians. It smelled the forest, sweet autumn and it was providing the heat they needed to cook the potatoes after Jack insisted on the others to taste the delicious natural cooking. They were all sitting in front of their homemade campfire, watching the flames dancing and eating their burning hot potato wrapped with foil paper with a bit of melting butter upon it to give a little taste. All of the guardians were pleased with their day. It was this kind of moment their were missing when they were guardians. Their jobs were so important that they never took the time to appreciate what they were doing. They were working more by obligation and habit, that they forgot the essential of their duty. They were never spending their time with the ones they were protecting. But someone showed them that they weren't just guardians. They were guardians of childhood, and childhood was mostly about learning new things and having fun. Before taking another bite into her snack, Ana smiled to herself and turned her head to look at Jack.

"Thanks for being here Jack", she said with a truthful smile.

"Huh?" he asked his mouth full looking at Ana.

"It was great today", she continued, "We passed a good time all together."

"Oh", he said swallowing his bite, "well I didn't do much. It was just…natural for me."

"Well", said Nick, "it was something we all needed."

"He he", he laughed a bit, "I can't stop myself, I'm the guardian of fun after all."

"That's the point Jack", Ana continued, "you showed us that even if things don't go back to the way they were, we can still enjoy our life."

"I couldn't let you all mourn until death", he laughed, "What kind of friend would I be."

Those words brought a smile upon all of the guardians. They were happy that Jack was really trusting them and considering the group as his friends. Jack had been a kid that had it rough for a long, long time and he was still smiling, having fun and living his life to the fullest like nothing could stop him. He was an example that the guardians wanted to follow. He was brave, never giving up, and it was a quality that Aster was admiring in him. The Australian extended an arm to wrap it around the prankster's shoulders.

"Haaa", he started with a smile tapping Jack's left shoulder, "What would we do without ya mate?"

"Sulking in your room with hard boiled eggs", commented Jack laughing.

They all laughed at the joke, even Aster. Ana tip on the side to hug the browned hair teen.

"Never leave us Jack", she said pressing the side of her face on his arm, "we really need you with us."

Nick and Sandy looked at each other for a bit, knowing that Jack wasn't in the safest position right now, but they kept their secret to themselves, like they promised to the nightmare king. They decided to join the group hug to keep those thoughts away. It was great to have people on whom we could rely on. Jack was happy to not be alone anymore and for once, he thanked MiM for not cursing him all alone once again. He let himself hug by the other guardians, having a peaceful smile on his face.

"Don't worry guys", he said, "I'm not going anywhere."

* * *

He was running out of light. Kind of ironic for a lord of darkness, but yes! There was much less daylight everyday and in almost two months night would be longer than day. Pitch could not let that day happen without him having the control on his Fearlings. They would go on a rampage and probably take the advantage of a longer time lapse to get to their target. This was not good…or was it? After thinking about it, Pitch had not recall having encountered his Fearlings in two months. So obviously, they were waiting the winter solstice to strike their wanted vessel, even maybe more people. It would give them more time to scatter and create their chaos. The former Nightmare King smirked at the thought. He was proud of his nightmares. They were wise, but not enough to fool their former master. The slender teen paced in his dark room, thinking of a way to catch his powers without them. He would have to use bait, and it turned out that he had the perfect one at hand. He would use Jack to lure them and just before they cast their control of the prankster, Pitch would shield him, taking all of the powers inside him. Then and only then, he would transform back into the Boogeyman, leaving the human world to go back to the spirit one. Although, there was catch. None of the guardians would let the boy leave alone with Pitch, especially Nick and Sandy that knew the boy couldn't go outside alone when it was dark. Unless there was someone of trust accompanying the younger one. He couldn't just ask the sand master or the Russian to tag along, or they would suspect something since they knew a big part of the issue. That left only two persons that could be there without worrying the two strong guardians, but that also knew nothing on the matter. Then a brilliant and flawless idea came to the dark teen. The only thing he had to do now was to wait…and steal some phones.

* * *

**CURSE YOU GOD OF INSPIRATION! CURSE YOOOOOU!**

**Yeah, as you could read above, I had a lot of difficulties writing this chapter. I didn't know what to write in it because I absolutely wanted a calm chapter with explanations and a bit of quality time between the guardians before the next one that will be intense and full of action.**

**I pretty sure you will like the next chapter if you are a fan of angst, because I was waiting a long time for the next one to finally arrive. There it is now, I can't wait to write it and see your reactions.**

**For now, enjoy your nice and sweet little chapter, because next week…all of this will change drastically D**

**Enjoy~**


	13. Dangerous waters

The stereotype of the Canadian provinces is that snow falls down profusely and that cold doesn't exist. Well this year was not especially the coldest winter the country had suffered. It was already December 20th and snow hadn't reached the ten centimetres. Even the ice on the pond in the park wasn't thin enough to be able to skate on it. Snow was still falling, but less than usual. Everybody was blaming the global warning, but the guardians knew the source of the problem. Still, they avoided talking about the touchy subject. At least, Jack was happy for his season to finally return. Even in his human form, he was able to go outside with only a thin coat without freezing. He was the complete opposite of Aster. This last one had the thickest coat of the house and was also recognizable from the hood covered in fur.

It was the last day of school before the Christmas vacations. Two weeks without classes or homework. At lunchtime, everybody in the cafeteria was talking about the activities they would do during the holidays. Some would go in their families, while others would fly off to warmer destinations. The guardians, or Nick would be more accurate, had planned this for two months already. He had decided with the help of Jack to make the lights of everyone flicker again by doing a big feast on Christmas Eve and a gift exchange. Everyone had agreed, even Pitch surprising everyone that he would partake a holiday that he despised. Maybe he had finally seen that it was best to cooperate more with the group. Nick was at the table in company of Sandy, Ana and Jack, looking over a recipe book to prepare the perfect meal for the Christmas Eve. Aster had to give a tutorial art class for some first year, asked by his art teacher. So he would not spend lunch with his friends.

"I say big turkey", said Nick putting his cooking magazine down for everyone to see the images of what he wanted to eat.

"Do you know how to cook one?" asked Ana looking at the page. "I heard it was complicated to do."

"Why not some meat pie or sea-pie?" suggested Jack, "it's a common meal here and it smell so delicious."

"Ever tasted some?" asked Ana looking at the daydreaming Jack who was almost drooling on the table.

"Nope", he replied, "but when I was a winter spirit, I passed by some house around here, smelling their feast, and especially that dishes caught my attention."

"Well", said Nick continuing to turn the pages of his magazine, "if you can find recipe, than we can try cooking. Too bad yetis are not there to do cooking, they are very good with food."

"That means you let the lady of the house to take care of it", proudly said Ana, rolling up her sleeves. She then turned to Sandy who was doodling in one of his notebook. "Do you have a suggestion Sandy?"

He popped his head up. Clearly he wasn't paying any attention to the conversation. It was not the first time that he was caught day-dreaming. He did have something in the back of his mind, but never spoke of it. Interrogation marks where appearing on his face making Ana giggle a bit before repeating her question.

"I said 'Do you have any suggestion?'"

"_For what?_" asked Sandy by writing in his notebook.

"For Christmas feast", said Nick, "you know, the most important celebration of the year."

The blond teen raised an eyebrow, not sure if the last thing the Russian had said was accurate. After a little staring, the sand master began to write something in his notebook again just below the last question.

"_As long as there is some eggnog, I'm ok with anything._"

"Watch out with those", smirked Jack remembering that the last one was a heavy eggnog drinker, "Maybe in your spirit form you didn't have this problem, but as a human…ish…I would go easy on it."

"_What do you mean?_" wrote the former sandman who didn't recall having a problem with those drinks in his past life.

"Well", started Jack with a smile, looking at the others who also seemed intrigued by what Jack was about to say, "drinking too much of eggnog can give you…you know…the 'goes fast' ", mimicking with his hands like some kind of fluid was dripping from a hole.

They all looked at each other totally clueless. Before asking all in harmony (Sandy mimicking the word): "What?"

"Hum…" Jack sighed then whispered to them almost leaning on the table, "it gives diarrhea."

They all did the same stunned face, Ana a little bit less long. She never drank one of those claiming it had too much sugar in it. On the contrary of Nick and Sandy that were regularly drinking the sweet beverage. Sandy, when he could, was able to drink up to four glasses in less than a minute. Now, knowing the effects, they didn't know if they really wanted that much to spend their holiday on the toilet seat. Another member adding himself to the table sitting next to Jack cut their gross thinking. It was Pitch that had finally decided to join the group, whether it was because he wanted to take part in the organization of the party, or more likely, that he was bored. When he sat down, he took out of his pocket a small blue object, sliding it to Jack.

"You should be more careful with your possessions Jack", commented the dark teen removing his hand from the item.

It was Jack's cell phone. The last one made a surprised face like if he didn't know what it was doing in front of him.

"I didn't even knew that I lost it", replied Jack taking his property in his hand, "where did you find it?" raising his head toward the nightmare king.

"It was professor Nightlight who gave it to me not too long ago saying you left it in the classroom this morning", said Pitch with a jaded tone, putting his chin in his hand, his elbow resting on the table.

"Oh", said Jack putting the item back in his pocket, "thanks."

"Don't mention it", waving his hand like he didn't care. "So, what were you talking about?"

"Christmas party", replied Nick showing the cover of his magazine.

"Of course", said Pitch not surprised at all.

"Do you have any suggestions?" asked Ana to Pitch, trying to include him in their activities even if she wasn't too hot regarding the idea.

"Party and feasts aren't my thing", the slender teen replied, "I leave the matter in your precious hands."

"We should go to the grocery store after school", proposed Jack, "usually those place become full the more Christmas gets close."

"Good idea", said the Russian closing his magazine.

"_We should warn Aster that we will go_", showed Sandy who wrote it in his notebook next to one of his doodles.

With that last sentence, Pitch took the opportunity.

"You take care of the grocery, I'll go warn the Easter rabbit", proposed the British getting up.

They all thanked him going immediately back to their previous discussion. Walking away, the Nightmare King to become couldn't supress a smirk of satisfaction. Everything was going according to plan, and he only was at phase one of it.

* * *

The day ended sooner than usually. All the students had fled the school as fast as possible, leaving only a little population who still had to take care of some work before calling it a day. Aster was one of those people. He had been hold a little longer than the other students by his art teacher who wanted to thank him for his help. He wanted to propose him some kind of notification for his file for future opportunities. The Australian thanked him, claiming that he had done it because he wanted to, not to receive anything in return. When they finished their discussion, the school was almost deserted of any living thing and the sky was a dark orange, leaving the place to the dark shadows of the night. He remembered that tomorrow would be the longest night time. He really hated winter, especially because of the cold, but also because of the short light that it was providing. He passed to his locker, putting on his thick coat and changing his shoes in to warmer boots. Before going out of the warm environment, he put on a grey ski hat. He found it very strange to have something on his head that wasn't part of his motricity, but he was getting used to it slowly. Turning the corner to meet the cold outside, he ran into someone else, stumbling, almost falling back. He looked up to the other individual who caught himself on the wall.

"Whot in tha world are ye doin' here Pitch?" asked Aster obviously not really happy to meet him.

The other one straighten himself, fixing back his long black winter coat. He was also wearing a grey scarf drape around his neck with the long end pulled through a loop. Used by that kind of treatment from the Aussie, Pitch looked at this last one like he hadn't talked at all.

"The guardians wanted me to tell you that they would be home late", the slender teen said putting his hands in his coat pockets.

"Oh", Aster said soothing himself a bit, "did Jack said anything?"

"Yes", answered Pitch repressing a smile, "He will still meet you at the park at four."

Aster looked at the nearest clock on the wall.

"Ah should go now then", he replied beginning to walk, passing the dark teen, "Ah wonder what he wants."

As soon as the Australian had left the building, an evil smile crossed the face of Pitch taking out from his pocket Aster's phone. '_That idiot never saw it_', thought the Boogeyman. He would have thought that it would have been a bit more challenging to put his plan into execution. Oh well, at least there would be no complications. Pitch had earlier steeled Jack's phone in class to text the supposed rendez-vous point to Aster pretending to be the prankster, saying that he wanted to talk about something at the park. It was suppose to be a secret he wanted to tell the Easter guardian only. The environment was setting itself slowly, darkness was coming out and bait number two was already on its way. The only thing missing was his main star. Flipping the phone open, Pitch started to text the winter mischief to put his plan in action.

* * *

The wind had rose and was a bit bitterer than earlier. The sun was setting tainting the sky a dark blue bringing along the star. The Australian had arrived ten minutes earlier and he was already freezing. What could Jack possibly want to tell him? He hoped it had nothing to do with rumour that was running about the prankster. The last thing he wanted was to be caught in some love affair, it would be kind of awkward. On a more rational point, maybe he wanted to talk about the whole human thing. For a long time already, Jack hadn't shown any weakness in staying human, maybe it was the opposite and wanted to confess his feelings. But why would he say it only to Aster, it's not like they were the best friends. They were friends, but he would have thought that the winter mischief would have confessed himself to his mentor, Nick. While those suppositions were invading the mind of Aster, he caught sight of a figure running toward him. It was Jack. As usual, he was only wearing a thin blue coat with no scarf, glove or hat to protect him from the cold wind. He had claimed earlier in the month that he was never that cold to the point of wearing winter gears. He was even wearing running shoes, no boots. For once, Aster envied Jack of being able to endure the cold like this. When the guardian of fun finally arrived to Aster, There was only a thick line of sun at the horizon, the park lamps providing the only light needed. The Australian opened his mouth to ask Jack about that secret he wanted to tell him, but the last one was faster.

"So", said Jack catching his breath back, hands on his tight, "what was so urgent that you needed me?"

The Aussie looked at the shorter teen with a weird look. Wasn't he the one who wanted to tell him something? If it was a joke, he didn't like it a bit. He knew the nature of Jack. He was a prankster and obviously with the winter coming back, he would be more of a pain in the ass than the usual.

"Really funny Jack", replied Aster, crossing his arms on his torso, "Weren't you the one who was suppose to tell me something?!"

Jack made a surprised face. If it was acting, he was really good.

"What? I never told you that", said Jack still confused, getting his phone out to flip it open and showing it to Aster, "You're the one who just texted me saying it was urgent that I come here."

The concerned one bent to read the texto sent to the winter mischief. It was indeed his phone number with a message saying "_Can you come to the park now? I need you_". Aster frowned, searching his phone on his person and in his bag, not departing his gaze from the cell screen. Without any luck, his phone was nowhere to be found. Where could it be?

"Ah can't find mah phone", said the Australian looking at Jack, "Looks like tha prankster gat pranked."

"Ha ha ha, really funny", said Jack with a half-smile, "you're a really bad joker you know. You usually don't go where you prank."

"Ah'm telling ya mate", said Aster in defence dropping his bag in the snow to search in his coat's pocket, "Ah don't have mah phone. Ah lost it…or someone stole it since he obviously texted ya somethin'."

"Wait", sighed Jack, composing a number on his cell, "I'm gonna call your cell."

As soon as he placed the phone on his ear, they heard some movements around them. It sounded like something was dragged across the snow. The wind increased and got bitter with every second. Both of the guardians looked around, Jack not paying attention anymore to the ringing. Steps sound came to mix with the other noises, but neither Jack nor Aster could see someone or something beside them.

"Do you hear that?" asked the prankster watching his surrounding.

"Ah do", replied Aster doing the same as Jack, then meeting his eyes, "but Ah can't see it."

Suddenly, the park lights blew out, one after another, leaving them in complete darkness. The only light that was provided to them were the stars and the full moon. Hearts began to race up as fear was beginning to creep out. Guardians were scanning the wood part of the park pretty sure they heard something coming from there. Dark smoke began crawling out of the woods, extending its territory on the fresh snow in front of the two guardians. Aster tried to calm himself down looking everywhere he could to find the source of the disturbance. When his gaze felt upon Jack, he could see by the steam coming out from the last one's mouth that fear was indeed beginning to take over the boy's mind. Jack knew what that meant. He remembered too well what happened some months ago. His reflex was to quickly search tap on his phone the number of Nick to warn him. Before he could answer, a big black wave came out from the woods, rushing on the boys who dodged the incoming big amount of Fearlings coming their way. They both landed on the opposite side, the Nightmare wave missing them of not much. They both watched the dark sand slide down and quickly getting back into some kind of whirlpool and shooting toward the winter mischief.

"JACK! RUN!" shouted Aster from the other side of the vortex.

As quickly as it was said, the browned hair teen stood up uneasily, almost tripping, running away from the surges of Fearlings. He thanked his legs for being able to run fast and his cardio of being able to support the cold hair rushing through his lungs. Even if he was running fast, the whirl was faster, shooting some black-sanded whip toward the former winter spirit who was able to avoid them. As soon as they were gone, Aster stood up to catch up with his pursued by the black mass, but was stopped by a voice coming from Jack's phone that the last one had dropped, probably when he dodged the incoming Fearlings. The Australian took the handset, raising it to his ear.

"Nick?" asked Aster a bit hurried.

"Aster?" said Nick surprised by the voice, "What is going on? I heard weird sounds."

"Gonna have ta call ya back mate", answered Aster almost interrupting the other, "Jack's in danger!"

Before the other had time to reply, Aster shut off the phone putting it in his pocket and went after their attacker and its prey as fast as he could. He didn't know what he could do to stop this thing, but at least he should try something. That mass looked like sand, black sand, something that the guardian of hope knew too well. They were Fearlings. How could they operate without Pitch at their command? Or maybe…maybe the Nightmare King still had control over his powers for all this time but never showed it. It made so much sense now that the former bunny was thinking about it. It was him who lured them here and stole Aster's phone. That guy would get the beating of his life when the guardian would get his hands on him. For now, he had to catch up with Jack and the Fearlings before something happen.

* * *

On his part, Jack had never run so fast in his life. He was also thinking of a way to make them stop following. Maybe if he was less afraid of them would be of use, but with something like a giant black solid shadow with amber eyes glowing in the dark following him wasn't helping at all. He looked behind, still running and almost out of breath, to look at his pursuer. It wanted him and he knew it. He couldn't stop running or he was done for it. Suddenly, the guardian of fun was pushed aside with an incredible force by a third party that he never noticed. Being out of the Fearlings way, Jack had enough time to see Pitch take his place and receive the blunt of the giant Nightmare mass to finally collapse on the ground to squirm and convulse from the charge he had just took. After everything has seemed to be in slow motion before his eyes, time caught up quickly with Jack stumbling down a bit, rolling in the snow and sliding far on the frozen pond at the bottom of the slope. The teen grunted. His legs tired of all the running, his heart racing and his lungs out of breath. Even his head was throbbing. He slowly put a hand to his head and saw crimson on it. He must have hit his forehead on something while tumbling downhill. He slowly rose himself from the ice with his elbow on the hard surface when he heard his name being called from the top of the ditch. It was Aster that seemed as breathless as him. The Australian slided down the hill, but he seemed more in control than the younger teen.

"Are ye alright mate?" asked Aster a bit stressed.

"Yeah", answered Jack, "I'm fine, just a scratch."

Those words soothed the nervous teen that was waiting on the shore of the frozen lake. After being sure that he wouldn't collapse due to his fall, Jack slowly rose up to his feet to walk to Aster on the firm ground. Only, as soon as he stood up, the ice made a not very reassuring sound before it gave up under Jack's feet, plunging him in the freezing water. He had enough reflex to catch himself on the side of the ice while falling through it, but his head was plunged into the water, inhaling a bit of water. The brown haired teen was able to bring half of his torso out of the water with a lot of effort. The younger one trashed the water as much as he could, drawing all of his strength in his body to get out. Not being able to get any where out of the water, Jack grown scared and confused, but also cold. The temperature of his body was leaving rapidly as long with his energy. He was at the point of clawing the ice.

On the safe shore, Aster was as scared as Jack. He didn't know what to do. He wasn't used to that kind of situation. How could he help? If he tried to adventure himself on the frozen surface, the ice would break and they would both be at the mercy of the frigid water. Soon, the water wasn't making as much sound as before. When the Aussie looked at the other teen, the last one was breathing heavily with his head down, the cheek against the ice, still clawing the sliding surface with one hand, the other had fallen back into the water, and his legs had gave up on kicking. Jack's body was losing more heat at every second, which was causing the cooling of the muscles and nerves. He was having much more difficulties to control his movements and the output of the water would be harder since now it would be difficult for Jack to grasp object. Time was ticking. Aster had to move or he would loose the teen to the unforgiving freezing water. An idea came into the Australian's mind. He quickly got of his coat. He wanted to use it to be able to pull Jack out of the water without going on the fragile ice. First, he had to get his attention.

"Jack?" he said stressed.

The teen raised a bit his head from the cold surface. His head that had previously been merge into the water was covered in water drop that froze on his face. His hair that had been dripping wet was now sticking down and had white stuff stuck on it. Aster knew he was shivering and that he was surely using the last bit of effort inside him to stay awake. The Aussie would have to work fast.

"Jack", shouted the tattooed teen happy to have a visual contact with the other one, "Ah'm gonna throw ya tha other end of mah coat, okay? Try ta grab it!"

The chin of Jack felt down on the ice, his neck not being able to support his head anymore. Dense steam was coming out of his mouth as his breathing was becoming more laborious. Rolling a bit of one sleeve around his hand, Aster threw the other end to Jack. It landed less than ten centimetres from the prankster's hand. The Australian tried again to reach Jack, but even crouching down, he could not hit his friend.

"Jack! Try ta grab it!"

The younger teen tried to open his hand, but it seemed to be frozen like a statue, unable to grasp hard enough the fabric. Aster didn't have the choice; he would have to go on the frozen pond to get Jack. His hand still wrapped in the sleeve, the guardian tied the other sleeve to a near a growing shaft. Then, he lied down carefully on the ice, crawling slowly until he got to the other guardian, gripping his coat in case the ground would give up. When he got to Jack, his eyes were closed and he was almost not breathing anymore. Stretching his arm, Aster got a grip on the blue collar and slowly pulled him out of the water. It wasn't easy since he was the only one to force. But thanks to his muscle power, Aster was able to bring the teen back on the solid ground. With no time to loose, the Australian undid the knot of his lifeline and wrapped Jack into his thick coat without knowing that he had to undress him from his dripping and freezing clothes. He clutched the guardian of fun against him to try and warm him. While doing that, he got the blue cell from his pocket, dialling 911 as fast as he could, bringing it to his ear. He was so nervous and scared for the other's life that he wasn't actually shacking from the cold for once.

"_Emergency 911, how can I help you?_" a feminine voice spoke up.

"Ah need help in tha park near tha public high school", answered rapidly Aster, "Someone fell through the ice!"

"_An ambulance is on its way. Can you tell me the victim's condition?_"

"Hu…yeah he's…" began the Australian that stop in the middle of it when he saw the teen in his arms.

The boy was as white as the snow. There was nothing moving, not even the shivering. He looked like he was peacefully asleep, but his chest wasn't rising anymore. Aster froze. Shook the supposed unconscious teen without any result.

"…Jack?" asked Aster from a low and scared voice.

No response of any kind.

"…Jack...Wake up…Jack?" he continued shaking the other harshly to attempt to wake him up.

"_Sir?_" asked the receptionist.

"...Jack…if it's a joke…it's not funny", ignoring the lady at the other end of the phone, Aster dropped it down to grab the iced collar of the frozen teen, shaking him a bit harder.

"…Jack…" he said almost vanquished, seeing there was no response.

He didn't' want to. He never wanted to take his pulse. He was too afraid he would find none. But looking at the immobile form, he couldn't bare not knowing the truth. With shacking hands, he slowly brought his head to the small unmoving chest, placing his ear on it. Seconds that seemed like hours passed. Fingers clutched more into the cold thin arms. Green orbs went wide at the silence and slowly, eyes began to watered.

Jack Frost had once again succumbed to the dark, cold and unforgiving freezing water.

* * *

**And you now may have feels!**

**It's finally written. I couldn't wait anymore and I'm very happy on how it turned out.**

**Now, I'm going to explain this expression= 'goes fast'. Here in Québec, we have an expression that is pronounced "Avoir le vas-vite". It means that we go really fast to the toilet because we have diarrhea. I know I couldn't translate it in English, but I still wanted to include it in the story.**

**In the next chapter, we will see what really happened to Pitch since we concentrated on Jack and Aster's situation, and also what happened to those two after the tragic event.**

**Thanks you for reading, comment are always greatly appreciated.**


	14. For what I've done

Minutes had turned into an hour. The waiting had been unbearable. For all this time in the silence, Ana had been pacing in the kitchen, unable to stay still for a moment having a hundred thoughts coming in her mind. The other two were sitting silently at the table, fixing their cell phone in case a call or a message comes in. Nick had been drumming his fingers on the table impatiently after the weird call he received from Jack's phone. A soon as her answered his, he could hear sand like sounds crashing and sift motions, until nothing but screaming from two different persons. He tried to call out to anybody who was present and was answered by Aster, who seemed to be very nervous, that only shut the phone without giving more explanation than 'Jack's in danger'. He's tried to call again and again but got no response and even got an engaged line. So, he'd given up and hoped that Aster would call him back as soon as he could. On his part, Sandy was calm, like usual. Though, his concentration was beyond the capacity of anyone present in the room. He had fixed his own cell phone lying in front of him on the table for thirty minutes without moving an inch. It was a wonder if he was even breathing. When one of the ringtone got off, he had some kind of hiccup of surprise, breaking his concentration. All startled, each of the remaining guardians jumped on their own communicating device to see who had received the message. Both Ana and Sandy popped their eyes up ass soon as they discovered they weren't the one who got the message; it was Nick. The last one frantically read and stand up pushing the chair making it falling backward.

"We need to go to hospital", he said quickly without taking his eyes off his cell phone, "Now!"

To these words, the three grab on their coats and stormed out of the house as fast as they could.

* * *

"Please sir, I would like for you to calm down."

"AH AM CALM!"

Aster had been rushed out of the emergency room for he was too stressful for the doctor to try to reanimate his frozen friend. The ambulance had arrived in less than five minutes after Aster has discovered the unmoving Jack lying in his arms. To make things easier, the guardian of hope had drag him back up the hill and attempted CPR on the youngest. Help arrived on the site, taking the matter in their capable hands and rushing the poor boy to the nearest hospital. While in the ambulance, Aster took the opportunity to text to Nick their next location. And there he was now, being kept out of the emergency room by a male nurse almost fitting his size. Each time the former rabbit was trying to get past those doors, the nurse would step in front of him and try to calm him down. Aster was beyond anxious and wanted to see the condition of his friend whose life was swinging between life and death.

"No you aren't", replied as neutral as possible the nurse putting his hand in front of him like if he was the defence of the door. "I would ask you to quiet down as well."

"Listen ta me", answered Aster restless, threatening the other one with his finger, "Mah mate is inside this room in tha worse condition he could be. HOW CAN AH STAY CALM?!"

"Rushing like a craze guy inside won't help the staff", sharply said the nurse while staying polite. "You can only hope for the better."

Both eyes were fixed onto each other. The Australian was still on nerves, but reason was making its way to his senses. The other man slowly put his hands on the large shoulders, still making eye contact with his 'patient'.

"Please", asked the nurse, talking to Aster with a smooth voice, "Take a seat while we try our best to make him come back to you."

The Aussie nodded, calming down. The nurse was right. Aster was not helping in anything but only stressing them. And if there is one thing he shouldn't do, it was that. If the emergency's staff was unable to work normally, then chances of survival for Jack would be slim. Fortunately, the trio had chosen the right moment to arrive, rushing into the hospital, looking for someone they knew. As soon as they spotted the Australian, they jogged to him, Ana running to jump in his arms, hugging him. Ana was like a sister to him, but was also the mother-like of the group. Being the only girl, it was natural for her to look over her boys and comfort them in time like these. She didn't know much on Jack's condition, but she had to be strong for Aster, he was the one who had to be the most in pain. He bent down, clutching as hard as he could without chocking Ana in his arms, letting his chin rest on her shoulder. Slender fingers made their way through they grey hair, the other hand stroking his back. He only buried his face more into her shoulder, closing his eyes to prevent any emotion to come out from his eyes. Nothing was sure yet, but he couldn't shake off that feeling growing inside of him. The two other boys stand there, looking Ana comforting Aster. Curiosity was beginning to take over Nick's mind, but Sandy motioned to him to have some kind of tact while asking his questions. The usually jolly man took a deep breath before addressing himself to Aster.

"Hum…" started Nick, "What hap-"

"It was Pitch!" answered Aster lifting his face a bit from the shoulder. His gaze was lost into the nothingness filed with anger. "None of this would have happened if he had never existed."

"Calm down Aster", calmly said Ana detaching herself from the tall teen, keeping her hands on his arms to soothe him. " Explain to us."

"He used us as bait", started the Australian, still refusing to make eye contact from fear his emotions would take over. "He wanted his powers back. Then, when Jack tried to outrun tha wave of Fearlings, he just…felt down a hill…on…on a frozen pond. But the…ice was…wasn't enough thick…and he just…he just…" Aster just mimicked the rest of the phrase for he wasn't able to say more without having some kind of tremor in his voice. "After that, Ah tried mah best to help him…but, Ah fear he stayed in tha water fo' too long. Ah should have been more quickly." He finished passing his hand over his face stopping over his mouth.

"I'm sure you tried your best Bunny", Ana said referring to him with the nickname he was most used to, her hands on his arms, trying to make eye contact.

"да", said Nick resting a hand on the Australian's shoulder, "Jack is very though and stubborn. He will not go down without a fight."

Aster looked at him, on the verge of crying, but he had to admit that the Russian was right. He received a smell tap on his other arm from Sandy who was smiling at him and nodding in agreement with the two others.

"Jack will come back to us", continued Nick with a calm but determined tone, "In one way or another."

Aster couldn't help but smile. It was one of the former guardian of fun's trait to be an annoyance, and he would surely not miss the opportunity to get on Aster's nerves. Jack would be all right. It's at that moment that the doctor in charge of the winter mischief came out of the emergency room. All turned to him, their eyes filled with hope and questions. Everyone was so eager to hear news from their friend, but judging by the look on the doctor's face, Sandy knew something was wrong. The professional cleared his voice before he spoke:

"We tried everything we could", he started calmly looking at them, "but he suffered from hypothermia on a high level. The heart couldn't take it…we're sorry."

No one could have known the feeling, unless that very person would have lost a person dear to his heart. Their minds were blank, not sure how to assimilate the fact that their youngest member had lost his battle against death. Their eyes were full of questions on the how and why this was happening. The doctor was used to this look. How could he have not been able to bring him back, it was his job after all. He decided to stay silent until someone would dare break the silence. The pressure on her mind was too much:

"What do you mean 'it couldn't take it'?" she finally asked with a hoarse voice.

"When he arrived here", started the doctor calmly, "his pulse was already very weak and the body temperature was dangerously under thirty. We assumed that before he arrived here, he was clinically dead, meaning there was a chance of reanimation. Only there was a major organ fail, and after trying again and again to reanimate him with no positive response, I declared an irreversible end of all brain activity. I did everything I could. I am deeply sorry for your lost and I offer you my sympathies."

Ana's hands flung to her mouth, muffling a cry as tears made their way down her cheeks. She buried herself against Nick who wrapped his arms around her, sorrow taking over his usual jolly mood. Sandy didn't restrain himself from crying. Silent as ever, tears glistened down on his cheeks, his eyes filed with pain and emptiness. Jack was a really good friend. Since the first time they met each other face to face, he had liked the nature of the winter spirit. Such a kid at heart could only be good for everyone. He was representing what they were protecting, and only him seemed to notice that detail. He had a lot of fun with Jack, and loosing him was far worse than when he died himself. For Nick, it was like loosing a son. The pain was unbearable, no father should bury his child, and for the guardian of Wonder, it felt like what he had built in the young guardian had gone to waste. Ana couldn't control the flow of her tears. She wanted to be strong, to be the proud queen she once was, but everything seemed to go from bad to worse. What would they do without they bringer of fun? What would they do without the soul that was bringing hope in them? Jack was the one that had accepted his condition in being human, but met the same fate as 310 years ago. Ana was boiling of rage. She found it unfair for him to die another time to the freezing water, and for once, she cursed at Manny for letting this happen to her dear Jack. Each of the guardians couldn't believe what was happening. But the worse case was Aster. He didn't move nor did he talk. The doctor and the nurse were looking at him like if he was about to pass out. Instead, he backed away from the room like if some kind of contagious disease was behind the doors. Then quickly, he walked out of the building, marching along the wall and coming to a stop.

It was not possible. Jack had been there less than an hour ago, breathing and moving. How could he even stop being alive? Cold has never stopped him. How could he pass through the ice? Never before it has done that under his feet. Then, logic came back rushing to his mind. Jack wasn't a spirit anymore. Humans are fragile; they can die easily just like that. How could Aster have been so careless? At this thought, the Australian hit the wall brick as hard as he could. Surely breaking something in his hand, but he couldn't care less. His friend had just died. He hit again repeatedly the wall to let out his frustration, crying out his rage. After a few seconds of steaming, he rashly pushed his back against the wall, hitting his head on it in the process, and slid down until he was sitting on the cold snow covered ground. He brought his knees up, resting his elbow on it. His face buried in his injured hand, he let freely his tears run down, breathing heavily. It was the worse. At least, when Sandy died, there was nothing he could have done more, but now, he was blaming himself for the death of Jack. He had been there with him on the hard ground. Instead of just telling the youngest to run, Aster could have protect him. He was taller and stronger, but assumed that the winter mischief could take care of himself for a brief moment. Oh was he wrong. He could only remember the look Jack had shot him when he was trying desperately to get out of the dark waters. Those sharp blue eyes were screaming at the Australian to help the young teen. He was cold and most of all he was scared. It was like he was confronted to his worse fear, which must have been at the moment. He was scared of dying again, scared he couldn't see the daylight on more time, or be able to spend more time with the ones he cared. Guilt took over the Aussie. If he had done more, Jack would still be here with them.

Minutes later, it was Sandy who came out to collect the crying Australian. He didn't have to search for long. When he got closer, it pained him to see his friend so destroyed by only one being, he didn't wanted to think about when he died how it affected the Aussie. As soon as Aster noticed the little guy, he quickly wiped out his tears with his sleeve, mumbling something about 'I hurt my hand'. Sandy nodded asking for the injured hand to take a look at it. There was a big bruise near the knuckles and the last ones were a bit skinned and bloody. The blond teen made a hurt face. This must have been painful. Maybe not when he hit the wall, guessing it has been the target, but now he surely was feeling the effects. But, Sandy knew it wasn't the reason for Aster's burst of emotions, it was the opposite. The Australian was bearing too much of the matter on his shoulders, taking most of the guilt. The former Sandman didn't know all the details of the story, but he was sure that Aster had done all he could, better than anyone else in the group. It was true that Jack and Bunny weren't the best friend of the world, but they had this love-hate relationship that made their bonds special. If they were pictured as a big family, Aster would be the big brother to Jack who would constantly get on each other's nerves, but in times of needing, they would be there for one another. Sandy smiled a bit, the injured hand in his own. He looked at the Australian who had puffy red eyes and raise his free hand to shake his index finger like if he was scolding him of doing such an irrational act. Aster couldn't help but smile at this gesture, reminding him of when Sandy came back from the dead to help them fight against the Boogeyman. He had been a sight for sore eyes at that moment and he hoped he would have the occasion to say it again for Jack. After all, they were technically spirits. Maybe there was hope for the winter spirit to come back.

* * *

He could feel his whole body tense up to the surge of energy coursing through him like an electric shock. Breathing was hard, even painful. It was as if the air was too cold for his lungs to take in any. He gritted his teeth becoming sharp with the transformation to the pain invading his whole body. The invading entity was passing to every hole it could find to get inside the slender body, creeping even by the skin pores to cover every last bit of flesh. His throat had gone dry for all the sand sliding down, his face became like a cement surface and all moisture had been drank by the dark powers, leaving on the cold ground a looking like corpse. Pitch didn't know how long he stayed like this, immobile. His eyes were locked with the full moon, daring the Tsar Lunar to look at what was happening.

Earlier, his plan had work like a charm. If he had let Jack on his own, the boy would easily have been caught, maybe too scared to move or too daring to fight against the Fearlings; a battle he would have likely lost in any case. To have a third party would wake Jack from his trans and make him move, without knowing, toward the former nightmare king. Aster had been a perfect choice. He knew little on the matter and Nick and Sandy wouldn't have any problem in letting Jack go out in the dark if it was to meet with Aster. How fools they were. Although, when Jack arrived to his point running, he hadn't planed for him to fall down on the pond when he pushed the younger teen. All Pitch wanted was to receive the complete load of Fearlings. He didn't cared what would become of Jack or anyone else. Even if the prankster had been in contact with a bit of black sand, it would even be better if he had transformed into a Fearling. Then Pitch would have a total control on the young spirit and he would be able to strike the guardians even harder. But all he had noticed was the huge amount of Nightmares coming his way and crashing through him, caught in the body of their former master.

Suddenly, after being still for a couple of minutes, his body tensed up again. His back arched feeling his powers quickly overloading his soul. Dark shadows rushed to Pitch and engulfed him entirely, making a thick blanket over him, blocking all source of light. They poured into him, possessed his very soul until it was completely soaked in darkness again. His strength and abilities came back to him and increased tenfold with his new determination to eliminate Tsar Lunar's light and the Guardians' wonder. Shadows twisted his mind even more with all the hatred he accumulates from all those months as a human. Pathetic human.

The black mass on the ground slowly morphing their reborn leader rose to form the shape of a standing person. As fast as it came, the sand melted down from the newly formed Boogeyman. He took a deep breath, lifting his arms in a cross along with his head. When he opened his eyes, piercing amber eyes looking eclipse were now shining in the dark of the night. A crooked smile drawn itself on the crisped face, it was addressed to the moon. A laugh came out, a twisted and full of lust laugh, a perfect one for a vengeance toward the man who made the mistake of having pity toward the Nightmare King. With only a wrist movement, shadows and Fearlings came out from every corner, encircling their master as he addressed himself to the Man in Moon.

"Don't look at me like that old friend", started the Boogeyman happy to be back in his old body, dress in his long black cloak, "you must have known this would eventually happen. And now because of your stupid charity, you're all alone, with no one to protect the children of the world or you from my Fearlings. I'm finally ready…are your Guardians?"

* * *

**I can smell some feels around here XD**

**Muahahahahah!**

**Unfortunately, this chapter is shorter than the others. I had nothing more to talk about and if I made it longer it would not be as good as I would have it to be.**

**I realized that in a lot of fanfiction, people were making Tooth a bit over sensitive, and I don't hide myself by saying that I wasn't doing the same in my previous chapters. But to be fair, as I read the book of '_Guardians of Childhood_', I discovered that Toothiana is a fearsome warrior and a strong woman. So I wanted to picture her like this in this chapter. She is sad about the fate of Jack, but she knows that crying over something she don't have control over will not help. So she will probably take the place of Jack now that he's gone. Only future will tell us.**

**As for Aster…well…everyone has his weak moment, and now he's just near the bottom of his barrel of hope. He's completely destroyed. Everything he's lived for just vanished and now the one he was considering as his little brother just died in his hands. So even if Aster is strong and manly, he's very sensitive. Sophie was supposed to make an appearance in this chapter, but I replaced her with Sandy and I think it fits better. But don't worry, she will appear in next chapters.**

**I also wanted to thank all of you who commented lately. It warms my heart every time I see that I received a comment on my work. I would like to especially thank _Luofr_ for the big comment you left (I swear to god I was rolling on the floor if not squirming at the comment), and _CGryffindorGrimm_ (which I laughed a lot, I enjoyed reading it).**

**Also, a guest named _Perfect_ pointed out that the previous chapter was the 13****th****. It wasn't intentional for it to coincide with the accident of Jack. I laughed so hard when I noticed it. I love you anon fan XD**

**Anyway, I'm going to leave you here. Hope you enjoyed this short chapter~**


	15. I start again

"_Darkness. That's the first thing I remember. It was dark…it was cold…and I was scared."_

The night was calm with no wind. Only a few shy clouds were circling the moon without blocking its view. A hard layer of snow that had frozen due to the lack of snow day and the harsh cold temperature was covering the ground, leaving some grass spot covered in ice. There was not a sound that would break the natural silence. On a Christmas Eve, there were not a lot of people who would go outside except for the Christians. The bells of the church were ringing through the entire city, singing the birth of the Christ. Midnight had just arrived as people were celebrating all together the glorious night where children were unwrapping presents, people eating their feast and getting all together to pass a good time. Everyone was at their home, spending the holiday with their family. No one was around to witness another birth occurring in the park that night.

Down a little hill, a frozen pond had taken a life some days ago within its deadly water. Although that night, lying upon the icy surface, a slim body was sleeping. No breath was taken, nor it made any signs of being alive. Anyone who would have cross this view would have rushed to the lifeless teen for it was completely insane to go out by such a cold bitter night with only a hoodie and no shoes. But no one would see the poor boy for he was not part of the human world anymore. Front lying on the ice, white hair was brushing over the cold hard ground, cheek against ice with no emotion striking the flawless young face and the skin as white as the ground supporting the slender body. Then, a ray of moon shined upon the boy like if it was looking over him to be sure no more harm would be brought to the young being. Suddenly, a deep and harsh breath was taken, like emerging from deep waters in great need of air. The teen began to breath normally, but quickly, catching up with the long time he hadn't taken a sip of air, filling his lungs with all he could. For a moment, steam came out from his mouth but soon disappeared as the cold air filled the mouth of the youngster. Eyes began to twitch, but were afraid of opening. The white air boy was afraid of what he would find when darkness would leave his sight. All he could feel was the cold, and all he could remember was something freezing biting his whole body, shutting it down slowly. But a familiar light came down casting upon him. At that moment, he dared a peek between his eyelids. His sight was blurry for a moment as if emerging from water.

"_But then, then I saw the moon. So big and it was so bright. Seemed to…chase the darkness away."_

It took a moment for the boy looked confused. Where was he? He didn't really remember what had happened before he woke up. After a few harsh cough from his dry throat, he tried to find some energy in him to lift his sluggish body from the frozen blanket covering the pond. The first thing that caught his attention were his hands. Pale, but not white pale. It was more like blue, like if his body had slept for a long time…in the water. It was all too much déjà vu. Looking at his hands over and under, twisting his left wrist to see every part of his hand to notice afterward that on the sleeve of his usual blue hoodie, there was frosting. His gaze went down to look at his garment recognizing his outfit that he had when he was a winter spirit. Then, it shot him so hard that he almost felt back. Was it really it? The young man quickly felt on all four, trying to find a spot of ice that was lighted by the moon, and he saw it. He saw the face he had known for three centuries. White locks were hanging over his pale face where sticking blue eyes were shining with a mystical power. He could hardly believe it. He was back to his former self. But there was still something missing. That magical power he was lacking that always sticks with him wasn't in his hands. As if the moon could read his thoughts, a familiar gust of wind blew from his right side and he heard a soft thud on the ice. A crooked branch was lying in the middle of the pond just waiting to be possessed once again by its master. Giving himself a boost with his hands, the reborn winter spirit sled to his tool and, inspecting it with his gaze before, took the staff.

"_And when it did...I wasn't scared anymore."_

A surge of power blew from where the spirit was holding the piece of wood. The blue and white glow was blinding, evacuating some sparks in shape of flakes and freezing whirlwind bursting out from the contact point. The winter prince was getting the hand of his powers once again and the northern wind did not miss the chance of being part of this reawakening. It rose fiercely, announcing the beginning of a storm. All that was missing was the snow. The winter prince got to his feet smiling widely to the feeling he had missed so much. Before taking his leave, he could feel the stare of the moon and looked up to cross its sight.

"_Your name, is Jack Frost"_

"I know that", smiled the white haired spirit with a small chuckle, "I'm glad you let me keep my memory this time."

With that he turned around to face the wind, a smirk plastered on his face as he tightened his grip on his magical staff.

"HEY WIND!" he called out to his partner in crime who blew even stronger when Jack called him, "TAKE ME HOME!"

He didn't have to say it twice that the wind turned and twisted around the winter spirit pushing him off the ground to propel him many feet into the air. He dashed in the clouds and flew over the city with his cold companion. Although it was amusing to fly again in the air, there was one thing missing. Stopping in mid-air for a split second, Jack summoned the water from the clouds turning into ice to his touch and darted down bringing a snowstorm with him over the city. The Guardian of Fun was back in town.

* * *

Three days. Three sorrowful days since the incident. Aster never thought he would have to experience this again; watching one of his friends die in front of his eyes. A brotherly chemistry between him and Jack has grown since last Easter event. The guardian of hope had discovered that the teen had a lot more in him than simply pulling pranks, and noticing this fact had loosen up the Aussie's temper. All this time he had misjudged the winter mischief, and now that he was beginning to see more in this character, this last one was gone. It's as they say: We realize how something is dear to us only when it's gone.

The Australian was at the kitchen table, his feet on it as he was sitting in a chair, swinging on two legs. His sketchbook was resting on his laps drawing from his right hand while holding the book from the left to prevent it from dropping on the ground. For the past hour, he has been copying the bouquet of flower that prone on the middle of the table. Ana had brought it back from Jack's funeral a day ago. It hasn't been very big and not a lot of people were present. In fact, the guardians were surprised that more than them had decided to show up, it was all thanks to Sophie who had been the first one to know the tragedy. She was able to get in touch with some friends the guardians had made during the school term and tried to get some teachers to come. She was only able to get Miss Katherine and M. Nightlight to come and pay their respect. Even the school director, M. Ombric, was able to free himself for the funeral. Sophie had decided to stay silent on the matter and not tell her brother the news. Lets say that knowing that your favourite guardian is back and then the second after that he's dead must not be good for the mind. The group had grieved for a long moment during the day until they were back to their house with Sophie as mood lifter. After that, they decided to sat at the table, drinking and eating, talking about good moments and memories from their past life, adding some anecdotes of the Easter fiasco to it. They laughed, they cried and they tried to cope with it. So maybe it wasn't too good for Aster to be there, sketching the bad memory of Jack. After fixing the bouquet for several minutes, he just wanted to throw it out of the window.

As if their mind were connected, Sandy, who was previously helping Ana and Nick cooking the Christmas feast, walked to the kitchen table. Standing on his tippy toes, he took the vase full of blooming flowers with some difficulties. The others stopped what they were doing to watch the little man walked to the patio door, going outside to empty the content in the frozen garden. He came back inside and all the gazes were on him as he looked like what he had just done was perfectly normal. Although, he felt like he had to explain himself. So he typed his explanation on his cell phone showing it to Aster who read it out loud:

" '_Ah don't think Jack would have wanted us ta mourn over his death like this, especially on Christmas. He's tha Guardian of Fun and would have wanted us te remember him like who he was instead of who he is now.' " _, said Aster looking at the two other after reading.

Sandy was right, and they all knew it. They didn't know why it was so difficult to pass over it. It didn't seem to be that difficult when Sandy had passed away. Maybe it was because Jack was the youngest, the one who was the most alive of all of them. But even if it was the case, he surely wouldn't have wanted them to be sorrowful for that long.

"Sandy is right", suddenly said Nick, his hands all dirty from cooking, "We should be celebrating holiday instead of staying in silence mourning."

"Easy for ye ta say", replied Aster setting his sketchbook on the table and sitting normally, "Ye're talking as if nothin' of this never happened."

"Aster", said Ana a dipper in her hand, stirring the deliciously smelling vegetable soup cooking on the oven, " You can't blame yourself for what happened."

"It's not ya who had him in yar arms as cold as death", replied the stubborn Aussie.

It's at that moment that he saw from the corner of his eye Sandy standing next to him, arms crossed over his chest and looking mad at him. It startled Aster a bit to see his old friend staring at him like this like he had done something bad.

"Whut?" asked the Australian, "It's true. Ah just…Ah wish Ah could have…done somethin' ."

That last comment earned the guardian of hope a slap on the shoulder from the little blond guy. Even if it wasn't anything hurtful, it startled the former rabbit to receive a hit from the usually peaceful guardian. Sandy then wrote something on his cell and showed it to Aster who read it again out loud:

" '_Done somethin'?! Bunny, Jack would be proud of what ye did. None of us could have done more for him, and Ah'm sure he wouldn't keep a grudge on ya for trying.' "_

The Australian looked at Sandy who raised a finger waving it like he was scolding Aster for thinking only one second that it was his fault for Jack's death. A little smile made its way onto Aster's face seeing his friend trying to sheer him up.

"Sandy is right Bunny", said Nick becoming jolly again, "You will get over it and everything will be alright."

"Ya think so eh?" asked the Australian looking at the Russian.

"You will", replied the jolly teen, "I feel it…in my belly", putting his hands full of food on his stomach, which earned a little laugh from Ana and a silent smile from Sandy. It even made Aster completely smile.

"Ye're right North", said the Australian standing up, "So, whut can Ah help with?"

The rest of the evening went by without anyone really noticing that time was still running. Everything was a bit vague. There were discussion that didn't really mean anything, and arguments that were leading nowhere. It was all like a dream. There was a warm feast with a vegetable soup tasting like old time countryside. Also there was the traditional fuming turkey that was cooked perfectly and still a bit juicy accompanied by soft and tender potatoes and sour red beets. Even if they had a lot of food for only four persons, Nick had insisted on preparing a meat pie to finally try this traditional dish that ended up tasting like comfort food in cold time. They finished their meal in front of the television watching some Christmas movies and near midnight they decided to switch the program to the midnight mass, eating their Yule log in silent in front of the singing prayers. When the church's bell began to ring through the entire city, Nick raised his glass of eggnog looking at his friends.

"Merry Christmas my friends."

They all followed the gesture to toast in honour of this holiday and to those who couldn't be there with them to celebrate. The big four stayed in front of the television, finishing to watch the mass. Nick was sitting on the couch with Ana leaning on his arm with Sandy sitting on the other side of the Russian, hi legs cross and his hand resting on his stomach. As for Aster, he was sitting on the ground, his arms resting on his bend up knees. So when the doorbell rang like crazy, he was the one standing up first to go answer the door. When he opened it, he met up with a teenage girl completely covered by snow that as soon as the door was opened, stormed inside and closed it behind her. She lifted her toque and lowered her scarf to make place to an excited smile joined by emerald eyes that looked as if a miracle had just happened. Without giving time to Aster to comment her coming, she grabbed him by the shoulders and began to shake him violently.

"BUNNY! BUNNY! BUNNY!" screamed the hyperkinetic blond teen, which alarmed the others that were in the living room, turning around to seen their companion being violated by their blond tornado.

"Wha-ha-ha-ha-hat?!" answered Aster beginning to feel dizzy.

"SNOW!" she yelled, bringing him face to face separate by only an inch.

"Hu…Yeah…and?" said the Australian not really understanding what was all this about.

"THERE IS A SNOWSTORM!" she replied all excited, clutching more the shoulders.

This discussion catching the interest of the other guardians, they made their way to the duo in the hallway, not really understanding themselves what was Sophie trying to tell them.

"Please calm down Sophie and explain to us the matter", said Ana.

"Don't you get it?!" asked Sophie looking at them frantically and only receiving clueless looks.

"There hasn't been any snowstorm for ten years", she answered trying to stay calm but finding it difficult to hide her excitement, "not since you guys all disappeared."

They all started to make slowly the connections but needed some kind of proof that they were all thinking the same thing. Sophie rolled her eyes and gave them what she was really thinking of this.

"If there is a violent snowstorm outside that wasn't announced at all", she started her eyes full of hope, "maybe it's because someone is back in business. You know…a certain winter spirit."

"No way!" suddenly said Ana. Everyone turning to her, she seemed to know more about the matter. Thinking for a few seconds she then turned around to face them and explain what she had in mind.

"Now that I think about it, when he gave me back his tooth box, I looked at his memories to see how he became a spirit. Time is repeating itself", she said raising her gaze to everybody, "Jack died drowning in a freezing pond, and he was born back into a winter spirit. That's how he became Jack Frost."

Now logic came rushing to their head and suddenly, all the sadness that has been accumulated from the past four days was now replaced by excitement. Not only because they knew that their friend was alive, but also because he was back into the spirit world, meaning that it was only a matter of time before the rest of them would go back into their guardian forms.

* * *

"Silent night, creepy night, all is calm, and far too bright", a sneaky voice began to sing in the dark of the night.

The temperature was cold and even if it was almost full moon, some clouds were blocking a bit Manny's view, which was perfect for the dark being perched on the top of the church. Midnight was only a few minutes away and soon the church's bells would echo in all the city meaning that most of the children would be sleeping, their dreams full of wonder from this beautiful Christmas night. For some, Santa will have been generous this year. Oh! But it was true. There was no Santa Claus anymore. He was stuck in a pathetic teenage form, while the Nightmare King was back in business to accomplish his dark plan. Even if it was easy to just kill the Guardians in these forms, Pitch didn't want to break all the fun just now. After all, who could stop him now that they were humans? He never really knew what had happened to Jack, but he never saw him again, taking in fact that he must have been consumed by the darkness, turned into a Fearling and being nothing more than dust at the moment. The others were surely suffering from their loss. It was the perfect time to strike, but being the evil master mind he was, the Boogeyman wanted to torture the big four a bit before getting rid of them. He would spread his Nightmares through the entire globe, even striking the former Guardians and torturing them with their darkest memories, twisting them into some tragedy that would scar them until they couldn't take it anymore. They would know who would be behind this act and there would be nothing they could do. They would be powerless and all of their pride would vanish, as they would beg the Nightmare King to end their miserable life.

There was a big chance that it would not work as perfectly as the Boogeyman's fantasy would like to, but everyone can dream, even the Nightmare King. At that moment, a loud ring began to echo from the church's bell tower. Midnight at last, it was time to strike. With only a twist of his wrist, Pitch was able to summon one of his dark sandy stallions, admiring once again this wonderful work of art. Then, with a sharp slashing movement from his arm, he ordered his pretty little Nightmare to spread the word to the other dreams that their master was back. The dark horse took off, running from house to house, infecting children's dream and spreading like a virus through the city. A crooked smile drew itself onto the Boogeyman's face, please to finally be free of any obstacle.

Only, Manny liked to be ironic in those times and soon, the Nightmare king could feel the wind growing fast. Snow began to interweave with the cold and strong element, and in less than a minute, a storm had struck the city. The smirk that was once on the dark man's face was replaced with a frown of frustration. His amber eyes were locked with the source of this snowstorm that was coming from the woods where he transformed some days ago. He knew all too well who was behind this sudden change of weather. Baring his sharp yellowish teeth to the nothingness, a growl came out from deep down his throat as his fist clenched up tightly. Only one person was able to wake the northern wind like this without even trying. It was one of the only two persons that were a real challenge to the Nightmare King.

"Frost!" growled the Boogeyman to himself.

* * *

**I am so sorry that this chapter took longer. Last weekend I went to a convention and I was in a cosplay rush, so that's why there was no chapter update.**

**There is still some drama in this chapter, but now I think we can say that action will come back shortly. I like a lot how I did the wake up of Jack and how I was able to mix some scenes from the movie.**

**This story will go on a short hiatus from now on for two really simple reasons:**

**#1: I have another story that I began (Silence! Camera! Action), staring a pairing of Aster(Bunny)X Jack. It's been almost a month since I posted the first chapter, and I would like to continue it a bit before I keep updating this one.**

**#2: I have a writing block, and since I don't want to always post short chapter, or repeating myself, or writing shitty things, I decide to take a break, think my story over, and deliver some good stuff.**

**I think the maximum you'll have to wait for the next chapter is a month. Like I said I would like to do a couple of chapter for my other story. So go check it out ;)**

**Thank you for reading, comment are always appreciated~**


	16. What if this storm ends

Wind was raging, bringing upon the city a snowstorm. The flakes were strong and bitter, whipping on the face of anyone fool enough to go outside at that temperature. The blizzard was so intense that visibility was reduced to almost nothing. Cold wind freezing on its path, white sharp snow covering every centimetres of the ground catching up with time for the late ten years of inactivity. On this early Christmas day, a storm that nobody had seen in a decade had rise. Although in only a matter of minutes things had become worse. It was as if the wind had its own mind and was angry for some reason. It was pushing snow with so much power that trees were bending whatever their size. Everybody in the city that were celebrating outside had quickly got back in their houses, leaving the streets looking like a ghost town struck by God's wrath. Only it wasn't a god that was the cause of all this natural fury, and the Guardians knew it.

The big four plus one were going against the unnatural storm to prove a theory guessed by their youngest. They were all wishing it was true, the natural disaster not showing the contrary. At one point, they weren't able to continue walking. Even the girls were too light to not be pushed by the raging wind. Aster had to get a hold on both of them so they would not fly away like leaves. Sandy too had real problems going forward, but had the chance to be back up by Nick who was taller and heavier than the little man.

The mute teen had an odd feeling growing inside of him. If Jack was really back as a winter spirit, there were two possibilities for this freezing disaster: the young teenage sprite wasn't able to control his powers anymore, or he was dealing with an enemy that had done something very wrong. With no traces found of Pitch, Sandy was sure that his second guess was the correct one, which left Jack all alone against the reborn Nightmare King. Since they had left home to go find the source of this storm, the small Guardian had run every scenario possible in his head for their coming back in their spirit form as well. Jack had turned back by the same way he became a spirit, so that meant it would be the same for the other Guardians. The problem was that all of them had become Guardians with time and magic. North had at first been a ruffian who learned magic and used it to create technologies to bring wonder to everyone. Ana was born from a human father and a winged mother. As for Aster, he was a pooka creature of thousand years old mastering magic at a high level. All three would be tricky to get back to their original form for magic wasn't part of this world anymore. Sandy on the other hand had a plan for his own sake. Dreams were part of the everyday life, and for them to still be in balance, there needed to have a Guardian for dreams and nightmare. With Pitch back in the spirit world, Sandy wouldn't take long to join him.

* * *

He had lost control over his emotions, leading to this awful weather. Rage had built up inside him. He didn't quite know why he was feeling so angry. His foe had done nothing really wrong. Ok, maybe it was a bit his fault concerning the death of Jack, but it wasn't him who decided to break the ice. The white haired boy guessed that it had something to do with the trust they place into the Nightmare King and that this last one had just broke with no remorse. Jack had faith that the Boogeyman could have some sort of humanity left in him, but no. Pitch Black was still Pitch Black, a spirit corrupted by the Fearlings. They were like a virus that had attacked his soul, tainted it and prevented it from feeling human anymore.

Soon the rage became less present in the mind of the winter spirit and the storm was more about defence. The Nightmare King wasn't pleased at all with the return of the frozen teen. He was sending waves of Nightmares toward Jack, trying to infect him, or at least hit him. The winter sprite had let the snowstorm rage on to blind his adversary and nullify his attacks. At first, it was efficient, but after a while of only flying away dodging the Nightmares, the Boogeyman had enough of playing tag with the prankster. Still on the top of the church, he assembled his Fearlings under him, lifting him up to create a huge tower of dark sand growing taller by the second to get above the clouds away from the blinding storm. The dark man raised his arms to his chest, doing a pushing motion toward with the sand following his move. Jack, that had been searching for his enemy through the blizzard had not seen the tower of Nightmares, until a huge black wave rising up to the stars, like that night when Sandy died, came down crashing on him. Automatically, the storm ceased when its master felt under the massive amount of black sand. The atmosphere was awfully still with snow flakes hanging in the air like gravity wasn't part of the world anymore. Clouds were slowly going away, doing enough space for the moon to peak upon the scene going on, letting its light cover some part of the streets. Pitch looked down at the black ocean covering the streets with a crooked smile. The black sand was glittering with the moonlight shining over it. The Boogeyman spotted the shepherd staff sticking out of the sand. The Nightmare King lowered his tower slowly down until his feet touched the ground. He walked toward the squirming body lying on the ground in pain that was trying to dig his way out of the dark mass, the ocean of black sand separating itself with each steps their master was taking, just like Moses with the Red Sea. It was still as delightful to destroy a Guardian.

The black sand was heavy on him, like pushing him down. He had to freeze the layer on his back to be able to break free from it. Kneeling, he shot a little glare to the Boogeyman who was slowly walking up to him. The winter spirit used his staff to get back on his feet, lifting it afterward to keep his foe at distance by pointing the crooked part toward the Nightmare King, charging it with freezing magic. This move only earned a slight chuckle from the dark man.

"Oooh how I've missed you Jack", said the Boogeyman with a hint of pleasure in his voice, "It wasn't the same with you so weak and helpless."

"Well not me", replied the winter spirit, still pointing hard his magic staff toward the other with a harsh glare, "I preferred you as a human."

"Tsk tsk tsk Jackie", said Pitch with a hand behind his back, summoning some black sand in his hand, not impressed by the audacity of the young spirit, "Here I am giving you flower, and you just shove them back into my face. You should learn to have more…RESPECT!"

With that last word, the Boogeyman launched himself on Jack bringing down his black scythe on him. Jack had enough reflex to dodge the hit by jumping away, rolling on his side. As soon as he was back on his feet, he swung his staff sending a shot of ice toward his attacker that blocked it raising a hand in the air to make come out from the ground a wall of dark sand, ice shattering on it. With a swift motion from his hand, Pitch sent his black-sanded wall toward Jack like arrows. The teen was quick enough to jump high in the air to avoid getting hit, the shot crashing on the ground in million pieces. The Winter spirit not wasting his time to counterattack by charging his staff with magic as he raised it in the air and sending another shot of ice at his enemy from high above. Both grey hands went back on the handle of the scythe to free it from the ground, and take a swing at the freezing shot making it explode at the contact. Jack landed back on the firm ground, getting back into a defence position. This match wasn't getting anywhere since they were both of equivalent strength, and Pitch knew this fact. Both hadn't used their powers for quite some times, and they were already at the bottom of their energy supply. Pitch would have to play it safe and drive the winter spirit to fully use all of what he had left to be able to strike and finish him off for good. The Boogeyman straightened up, his scythe disappearing into dust when he brought his hands behind his back.

"I guess we could glare at each other until someone drops dead", he said with a jaded look, "and it will be a rather difficult task since we're both immortal now."

Jack didn't flinch a bit, still threatening the other with his magic staff. He knew that Pitch was trying to manipulate him, but he didn't know where this useless conversation was going. The no reaction had Pitch chuckling at the bottom of his throat.

"Hm hm hm! You are one stubborn spirit", he continued, "but I guess that's what makes you stronger than those other pathetic Guardians."

"Nice try Pitch", said Jack not moving an inch, "but I won't fall for your little trick."

"What makes you think it's a trick Jack? After all, it's you who's here, not them. You're the one that has been able to come back as a winter spirit, they are still humans."

"So what?" asked Jack rhetorically.

"It means you'll be alone in the world once again Jack", retorted the Nightmare King with an evil smirk.

"What?" answered the winter spirit surprised and almost fearful.

"They will age, become adults and someday die, like any normal human", said Pitch, walking toward the prankster who was slowly lowering his guard with each word that was piercing his mind.

"I-it can't be", said Jack not wanting to believe any word, "They are Guardians! They can't disappear! If that happen, who'll bring presents at Christmas? Who'll collect the teeth of the children? Who'll bring hope at Easter?"

"People around the world were able to get over it for ten years", retorted Pitch with a jaded look accompanied by a little satisfactory smile, "I'm sure they will be able to keep the tradition running by themselves."

Jack didn't want to believe one bit of what his nemesis was saying, but he knew that Pitch wasn't lying. It was logic that whether the Guardians were coming back or not, it would have no impacts on the world. It was not like him. He was part of the natural order, and Manny must have waited the opportunity to bring him back, that's why he did nothing. The fear of being alone again took over his mind, and he wasn't paying attention anymore to the Boogeyman who had wait this breach of focus to strike.

The Dark Lord, now only a few feet away from Jack, summoned his dark sand in his right hand forming a powerful ball of Nightmares, and with his left, he swept over the scoop of Fearlings toward Jack. The hard jet went straight to the prankster's chest making him fly away on several meters, landing on the cold hard ground, sliding to a stop another few meters further, his staff falling not far from him, clattering on the ground with the sound echoing. The young Guardian laid there on his back, unmoving but his face filled with pain as if something heavy was crushing his chest. In fact, the previous shot that has been launch against the sprite was still on the torso of this last one, the Fearlings spreading on the cold body to hold it still against the ground, making it impossible for their victim to flee or reach for his life-line that was barely centimetres away from his fingers.

* * *

There was nothing natural in this weather. At first, wind was raging, sending millions of sharp little snowflakes everywhere at a speed that it felt like cutting on the skin, but then it was calm, too calm. Flakes were hanging in the air like stars. The Guardians were now able to stand normally and dusted the snow off them. Aster released the two girls from his grip and Sandy pushed himself away from Nick, his eyes scanning for anything weird. The storm clearly meant a fight, looking like Jack had the upper hand, but now that it had clamed down, either the winter spirit had won or was loosing.

"Well at least we know that Frostbite still has tha hand", complained Aster. It was indeed good to see that Jack had come back to 'life', but that also meant that the Guardian of hope would start complaining about the pranks of the other again.

"Stop your whining Bunny", said Nick dusting his shoulders with one hand, "it is just snow."

"It's so pretty", said Ana amazed by the snow in suspension, "I didn't know Jack could do that."

"It's jast snow, like Nick said", retorted Aster with a jaded look.

"Why do you have to be so negative?" asked Ana.

The three kept on arguing on the weather as Sandy decided to leave them in their world. He wanted to be sure of what was happening instead of assuming that Jack was back, and like before. Maybe the sprite had come back but was infected by Fearlings, leading to the snowstorm. Or, the hypothesis the Guardian of dreams was more likely to accept, the Nightmare King was back. So there was no time to waste on a ridiculous chatting. Braving the tons of snow on the ground, the little man jog his way through to try and find Jack when suddenly, blue flashes of light were reflecting only a corner away and explosions could be heard. Snow was almost at his waist, so he had to jump over it to be able to run his way toward what sounded like trouble. When he almost got to the intersection, something, or rather someone, bounced onto the ground, sliding a couple of feet further to finally come to a stop. It looked like the person wanted to stand but was maintained on the ground by a black mass spreading on his torso. It didn't take much time for Sandy to figure out who the white haired boy wearing a blue hoodie was. The other feature that gave away the cold spirit was the shepherd staff leaning next to him but was not at hand. Already turned back to his spirit form that he was searching for trouble. Sandy tsked in his head, mentally scolding the other, but he would have time for that later. He turned his head toward the foe of the downed winter spirit, frowning at the sight of the black figure slowly approaching.

The others soon followed behind. When Sophie noticed that the little guy wasn't there anymore, she brought everyone back on the main subject of their quest and they quickly caught up with the blond teen that had stopped at the street intersection. As soon as they saw Jack on the ground, all wanted to go to his rescue, but were all stopped by Sandy who extended his little arm in front of the group, his eyes locked with the walking slender shape not so far from them anymore. With Pitch on one side of the street and Jack on the other one, the guardians were between both but on the side in the middle of the street coming to an interception with the one of the spirits.

Pitch noticed them automatically and he couldn't restrain his laugh of satisfaction.

"Oooh ho ho ho", laughed the Boogeyman with almost a seductive tone, "I thought I heard the sound of weirdoes coming this way…and there you are."

"Pitch!" shouted Aster with an angry look matching his voice as his whole body tensed up, "you shadow-sneaky ratbag, come here!" moving a bit forward before being stopped by Sandy once again.

With a silent scold from his eyes, Sandy showed him what was happening to Jack. This last one was maintained on the ground by a powerful Fearling mass that spread to hold the arms of the winter spirits apart so he couldn't use his magic or reach for his staff. Then pointing at Pitch, the blond Guardian indicated that if they moved, the Boogeyman would use his magic to crush his victim. Indeed, the dark man's right hand was surrounded by a little whirlwind of black sand, and Sandy noticed that when Aster made a little jump forward, he closed a bit his hand, earning a faint yelp from Jack. The other Guardians looked at each other's, wondering what they could do to help their fellow friend, while Sandy had his glaring eyes locked with the ambers of Pitch who couldn't help but smirk at their powerlessness.

"I can't tell you how happy it makes me to see you all like this", said the Nightmare king with a sinister voice, "So helpless while your last hope is being crushed by me", followed by a laugh coming from the depth of his stomach.

Sandy took it as a personal challenge. It was a natural chemistry going between the two masters of dreams for they were opposed to each other's. They were like ying and yang, the contrary of the other, but it all was balanced, meaning one could not live without the other, not too long at least. Pitch was too drowned in his ecstasy of winning that he had forgot this little detail. Sandy remembered it all too well, and seeing his rival taunting him like this would be the perfect opportunity to take on the dare and show him the big mistake he had made.

The Guardian of dream stepped forward spanning the snow as best as he could walking in the middle of the street between the Boogeyman and the Winter mischief struggling more and more to get to his staff. None of the others dared to follow the little man for he clearly made feel in his attitude that he wanted to single the Dark Lord. Pitch was more than happy to have the opportunity of destroying his fellow dream maker, but this time he would do it for good, and it would stay that way since the other Guardians weren't near getting back to the spirit world. So he though, and so Sandy knew it, but his face stayed the fierce dream warrior that he was to not give the surprise away. Pitch began to have a mocking laughter. They were that desperate that they needed to show off and stay with all their pride to buy some time to the only Guardian on duty. Pitiful.

"Now this is who I'm looking for", said Pitch with a little grin, "the only one who can keep up with me", changing to a maniacal look with a crooked smile, "too bad you don't have the power to do that anymore!"

Sandy said nothing, pushing aside the fact that he couldn't, but he mostly said nothing through his body. Stiff as a statue, his look fierce not moving for on second from his foe, hand fisted in hope that his little trick would work its way.

" 'Stick and stone may break my bones but words will never hurt me' ", said Pitch from a mocking way, "I can just picture you saying that at the moment."

Sandy was in fact buying time, and Jack didn't waste it one bit. While the Nightmare King's attention was all on the little man, the winter mischief was struggling, stretching his arm and fingers to reach for his staff. The sand was less heavy than before and he thanked the Guardian of dreams for that, now he was able to crawl a bit on his back with his fingers scratching on the ground to frantically get to his staff. His fingers were brushing against the cold wood. He was so close from breaking free.

On the other side, the Guardians were mentally debating weather to go help or not. Sandy was indeed distracting the Nightmare King, and if they went to help Jack, it would be obvious and he would suffer the consequences. Ana and Aster had the urge to go with Sandy, to stand with him against the Boogeyman. Sophie didn't quite know what to do. Never before had she been there in a battle against Pitch, it was her brother. He had told her everything that had happened, like how they were able to bring the Sandman back to life. It's at that moment that she realized what Sandy was doing. She looked at the others and only Nick seemed to have understood the situation. The blond girl saw it in his face. He was serious yet determinate and surely hoping this would work. Aster and Ana on their part were so worked up on not staying were they were and go help that Nick and Sophie had to stop them from doing so.

"Whut are ye doing mate?!" asked Aster not really happy to be stopped in his track to go help his buddy, "Sandy is gunna get toasted if we do nothing, along with Jack!"

"I'm sure Sandy knows what he is doing", said with a low voice the Russian.

"But this is ridiculous", complained Ana who was hold by Sophie, "Sandy doesn't have his powers anymore, what can he do against Pitch now?"

"Guys", smoothly said Sophie, all heads turning toward her, "You have to believe in him."

This was the first rule of the Guardians: Believe. Both Ana and Aster felt ashamed for forgetting it. Sophie was right. Sandy wasn't a hair-head. This mind of his always thought of something clever before doing anything irrational, and if he wanted a one-on-one combat with the Boogeyman, he would have it.

Pitch had a bit enough to play around with someone that wasn't even putting a challenge. It was time to finish it. The other guardians were too afraid to come and help their fellow Guardian, and Jack couldn't move from his spot. The Nightmare King thought it could have to effects to fire his Fearlings toward Sandy: Either it would pass right through him since he's human and land on Jack that would become infected, or Sandy would receive the full blast and fall asleep targeted by nightmares, and there he could make the other dream master suffer. Both were good for the Nightmare King.

"You know Sandy", started the Boogeyman with a sincere face, "it's really not the same without you. It was a bit stupid of me to mess with you dreams, and since I'm a generous man, I'll tell you what…"

He raised his hands slowly in the air as if he was holding a bow, and as he was slowly pulling on the imaginary string, a thick black arrow began to form. He knew the dream master would not flee. He was far too prideful to run away from him. He aimed for the little man with a satisfactory grin.

"…You can have them back!" he said with a deep voice before shooting his arrow that flew through the air and crashed onto the torso of Sandy who lost balance at the shot and felt on a knee, clutching his chest with one hand as the Fearlings were slowly making their way across all the little body. It was just like that terrible night when Sandy had lost to Pitch, and things weren't looking any better right now.

Sandy was feeling an incredible amount of fear coursing through his body. The powers of the Boogeyman seemed to have even more effect on him in his human form. The Guardian of dreams felt that he was loosing the battle. How could he have been so irrational to think he could beat the Nightmare King when he was only about four feet tall without any powers. He wouldn't be able to save Jack from a grim fate. He was so weak and helpless. It was so pathetic.

The little blond blinked a few times before shaking his head. No! It wasn't like him to think like that. The Fearlings were already invading his mind and it was only a matter of time before he would drift into a nightmare where Pitch would have a little bit too much fun. He frowned, lifting his head to glare at the Nightmare King who had a maniacal laugh.

"Don't fight the fear little man", shouted Pitch with an evil grin, seeing the same scene from ten years ago play before his eyes again.

It was harder to resist to the temptation than before. He could feel the dark sand crawl under his skin, go to the bottom of his heart and then up to his head. A headache was on its way and he could see the skin on his hands becoming grey. His golden eyes went wide. How could this happen? Didn't Manny want the Guardians back? Did he really wish the earth to go back to the dark ages? Maybe Jack was right after all. Manny had abandoned them to their unfortunate fate. No! Sandy couldn't think like this. He had to borrow the hope of Aster. He couldn't let the Nightmares win. He had to believe it would work.

"I'd say sweet dreams", started the Dark Lord with a jaded face, and slowly a little crooked small appeared on the slender face, "but there are any lef-".

The Nightmare King didn't have the time to finish that a surge of golden light emerged from where Sandy had been struck. Everyone was surprised by the turns of event as the black sand was quickly purified with streaks of golden sand swirling into the air accompanied by a warm bright light. Joy for the Guardians was horror to the Boogeyman as the strings of dreams made a cocoon around their long lost master. The shape of Sandy was barely visible through this whirlwind of dreams. The Guardians were amazed and their hope was coming back while watching the streaks of shining sand going up in the sky, passing everywhere in the streets and already catching up with the late work. Even Jack had stopped squirming to get to his staff and watch in amazement the numerous creatures made of dreams sand form in the sky. A streak coming from the cocoon went directly on the winter spirit's torso to free him from the black sand, transforming it into a manta ray that flee away. Jack smiled at his freedom, sitting up and looking in amazement the light show, his hand blindly searching on the ground for the staff. Although, it was another story for Pitch. The fact that Sandy was coming back to the spirit world was awful, but what was worse was that it was mainly because of him that the little man had been able to pull up this trick. His face at first was full of confusion on how the dream master could do that, but then rage came up, baring his teeth at the scene. His amber eyes looked at everything at the same time, not believing that what was happening was still possible.

A short time after its creation, the whirlwind of blinding golden sand let out a streak fast like an arrow, wrapping itself around the wrist of the Nightmare King to pull him violently to the shining cocoon where a shape was now shining clear. The eyes of the Boogeyman went wide in horror when he felt right in front of the imposing mass of golden sand as he saw the Guardian of dreams emerge from it with a fierce look. If Pitch thought that this battle was over, Sandy was ready to prove him wrong.

* * *

**Heeeeey…is it already two months due…hmm…I never noticed. Ok, ok! I know this chapter was supposed to be out last June and I am so sorry for delaying like that. But rest assured, I hate leaving unfinished project and you don't have to fear me abandoning this story. I had a lot going this summer: work, cosplay and I went into new fandoms, so the RotG one was left a bit aside for a while.**

**If I have to pronounce myself on this story, I say there are like two more chapters before the end. After that I will continue my other one with the pairing of RotG, I also have some one shots that my friend asked me to do for her birthday that I need to work on. Then, I was thinking of writing a How to Train your Dragon fanfict and a one shot that came to my mind a while ago. **

**So hope you enjoyed this chapter, I'll get to work on the next chapter in not too long (I hope). Comments are always appreciated~**


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